What you are using affects your EMTLIFE image??? (New posters, take note)

[mycrofft]

I think the proliferation of little teeny texting devices <_< has led to some of the crummy looking posts and replies here, both due to the physical limitations of the device, and also the sloppy mental shorthand they reinforce which can reappear once a real keyboard and some free time are available.

(I am not going to address the decline of literacy, but feel free to chime in).

Any other opinions? Or more of the same? Not asking for a grammar fest here, but how does poor grammar and excessive slang or inordinately familiar/disrespectful language here make you feel about the poster?

 

[bigbaldguy]

Depends on the post subject and the length of the post itself. If someone rattles off a reply of "+1 u no yur stuf" It's probably just someone on their phone. On the other hand if someone writes a multi paragraph reply and it is chocked full of poor spelling or lots of shorthand I would tend to give it a slightly lower credibility rating than one that was well written. If people feel strongly enough about something to make a long reply they should do it carefully. All that said I've rattled off some very poor responses on here due to a combination of haste,fatigue,fumble thumbs, and simple laziness so I try not to place too much stock in how something it written and try to look at what the post contains info wise. I suppose not judging a book by its cover would be a good way of explaining my views on this.

 

[adamjh3]

I've rattled off some very poor responses on here due to a combination of haste,fatigue,fumble thumbs, and simple laziness

Yup, I have, too. And I've made a complete fool out of myself more often than I'd like.

On the other hand, spelling errors jump out at me, and I tend to focus on those rather than the subject matter. The posters I have the most respect for type rather well. Whether typing well is causative to me learning from you, or it's just some bizarre correlation... who knows?

 

[WolfmanHarris]

I predominantly read the forums via tapa talk on my phone. Certainly this makes typing a long, well crafted reply now difficult, but not impossible. If anything the limitations of mobile posting make it more likely that I won't post unless I truly have something to add to avoid the hassle; either that or I wait until I have a proper keyboard in front of me.

We can't lose sight of the fact that mobile browsing is a tool like any other with inherent benefits and limitations. The onus is on the user to recognize them and work within them rather than inflict the results on their audience.

I won't delve too deeply into the general decline of literacy, but I do want to touch on the infuriating combination of ignorance and self-righteousness. It is one thing to post with poor grammar, spelling or sentence structure. It is another to react with annoyance or anger when your audience criticizes your post for poor spelling grammar and structure. This is not a journal or an intimate note to a friend, a forum is a public discussion. There should be an expectation that the poster communicate in such a way that they can be understood and that reflects them in a way they wish to be viewed. If your post is all but illegible and full of text talk, don't be surprised if you're treated like a child. You chose the impression we would have of you in the only medium where you're granted such a luxury.

(sent from my iPhone.)

 

[akflightmedic]

I have zero respect for someone who misspells, uses text type shorthand, and/or poor grammar. It very well could be a brilliant post but I am unable to get past the lack of punctuation, run on sentences, no sentences, no punctuation...it is horrible!

I feel if I take my time and compose a proper response designed for ease of reading and understanding, the least someone else can do is pay me the same respect and reply in kind. It is disrespectful to not give a response with the same level of care or thought which they did.

 

[Aprz]

"+1 u no yur stuf"

Lol wat a dumy he put y b4 u in u no ur stuf

 

[Medico]

I use tapatalk when on the forum, therefore I'm on a phone. This allows me to check the forum during down time. However, I feel obligated to use proper grammar and punctuation. It speaks of your character and education if you can't take the time to make sense, especially when looking for the opinion of others.

 

[Aidey]

I probably use my computer 75% of the time and tapatalk the other 25% of the time. I try to make sure that all of my posts use proper English. There is a higher chance of typos on my phone, but I try and avoid them. I don't think using a mobile device is a legitimate excuse for poor English.

 

[adamjh3]

I probably use my computer 75% of the time and tapatalk the other 25% of the time. I try to make sure that all of my posts use proper English. There is a higher chance of typos on my phone, but I try and avoid them. I don't think using a mobile device is a legitimate excuse for poor English.

I love it when sentence structure is non-existent, there's syntactical errors left and right, words are used inappropriately, and the poster tries to blame it on their phone.

 

[firetender]

I'm supposed to read all the posts.

My attention drifts when I have to translate.

Then I have to sort through all the posts that react to the poor grammarian.

Then I forget what the thread was about.

So I have to start all over again.

Cruel and unusual punishment!

 

[Anonymous]

True, but that applies under a couple of conditions:
1) That all the letters of the word are present in the word - something LOLspeak is notoriously short on
2) That correct punctuation and grammar are present

 

[Brad Z]

Run-on sentences and lack of parenthetical breaks are my pet peeves. My brain runs out of breath just reading those posts!

It is almost always in conjunction with a request for help of some sort.

 

[Martyn]

When all is said and done, let's face it...EMS is supposedly an educated career whereby we have all undergone formal further education. My opinion is that due to this further education everyone should be able to write and read reports etc to a high standard. Why then is this not reflected in the posts on this and many other forums? I would dearly love to see some of the field reports written by some of those who post that are grammatically challenged. :wacko:

 

[hippocratical]

¿ǝlqıƃıllǝʇuı ǝɹoɯ ʇı ǝʞɐɯ uʍop ǝpısdn ǝuoɥd ʎɯ ƃuıploɥ sǝop

 

[bigbaldguy]

¿ǝlqıƃıllǝʇuı ǝɹoɯ ʇı ǝʞɐɯ uʍop ǝpısdn ǝuoɥd ʎɯ ƃuıploɥ sǝop

Cool how did you manage to type in Greek?

 

[DesertMedic66]

I guess I'm the first one on this thread to say I don't have an issue with how people type. Being able to use perfect sentence structor and etc doesn't reflect how much respect I give someone. I have read many doctor's reports that have many errors.

As long as I can get the information from it I honestly don't care how it is. I know my posts contain alot of errors, so please feel free to point them out. I am not going to take college English classes.

The simple thing is if you can't read something on this site because you are a grammar nazi then isn't it alot easier to just ignore the post instead of correcting every single little thing? Just my opinion.

 

[STXmedic]

Being able to use perfect sentence structor and etc doesn't reflect how much respect I give someone.

structure*

 

[Anonymous]

structure*

LMAO :rofl:

 

[DesertMedic66]

structure*

And exactly what good does correcting one word do?

 

[STXmedic]

And exactly what good does correcting one word do?

It's the only error I found