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This isn't Grammar News. Unsolicited public correction of someone's second-language grammar is beyond rude.

by inimino 10y ago

zhemao 10y ago
Especially since the poster is likely not a native English speaker.
was_boring 10y ago
Especially when fixing the grammar doesn't change the overall message of the post. I read it without even noticing the mistakes.
zeroer 10y ago
No it's not. It looks like constructive helpful feedback to me. I, for one, appreciate people's grammar being better on HN. Granted, a private message would have been better, but HN doesn't support that.
- inimino 10y ago
  > I, for one, appreciate people's grammar being better on HN. If you want to accomplish that by making non-native speakers feel unwelcome, unsolicited corrections are a great idea. Otherwise not so much.
  - zeroer 10y ago
    Not in my opinion. My time is limited. If any speaker, native or non, doesn't want helpful grammar feedback, I don't need to read their writing.
- Kluny 10y ago
  That's kind of what I was going for, yep. I use forums to learn foreign languages as well and I appreciate helpful feedback.
  - PhasmaFelis 10y ago
    If you're aiming to be constructive, it would help if you introduced yourself and politely said what you were doing first, as Cauterized said. Just rewriting someone else's words without further comment sounds really blunt and condescending.
elementalest 10y ago
Maybe tho OP will appreciate the time someone took to correct their grammar. There was no malicious inclination or abuse behind the post. The corrections didn't include something like "far out your grammar is bad, learn how to write proper English". Now that would have been rude and uncalled for.
- cauterized 10y ago
  It would have come across as less rude if it had been prefaced with something to the effect of "I found your post insightful because xyz. It appears that you're not a native English speaker. In case you might find it helpful, I've made some suggestions below to improve the grammar of your post to make it more accessible to other readers."

This isn't Grammar News. Unsolicited public correction of someone's second-language grammar is beyond rude.

by inimino 10y ago

This isn't Grammar News. Unsolicited public correction of someone's second-language grammar is beyond rude.

zhemao 10y ago

Especially since the poster is likely not a native English speaker.

was_boring 10y ago

Especially when fixing the grammar doesn't change the overall message of the post. I read it without even noticing the mistakes.

zeroer 10y ago

No it's not. It looks like constructive helpful feedback to me. I, for one, appreciate people's grammar being better on HN. Granted, a private message would have been better, but HN doesn't support that.

inimino 10y ago
> I, for one, appreciate people's grammar being better on HN. If you want to accomplish that by making non-native speakers feel unwelcome, unsolicited corrections are a great idea. Otherwise not so much.
- zeroer 10y ago
  Not in my opinion. My time is limited. If any speaker, native or non, doesn't want helpful grammar feedback, I don't need to read their writing.
Kluny 10y ago
That's kind of what I was going for, yep. I use forums to learn foreign languages as well and I appreciate helpful feedback.
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  If you're aiming to be constructive, it would help if you introduced yourself and politely said what you were doing first, as Cauterized said. Just rewriting someone else's words without further comment sounds really blunt and condescending.

elementalest 10y ago

Maybe tho OP will appreciate the time someone took to correct their grammar. There was no malicious inclination or abuse behind the post. The corrections didn't include something like "far out your grammar is bad, learn how to write proper English". Now that would have been rude and uncalled for.

cauterized 10y ago
It would have come across as less rude if it had been prefaced with something to the effect of "I found your post insightful because xyz. It appears that you're not a native English speaker. In case you might find it helpful, I've made some suggestions below to improve the grammar of your post to make it more accessible to other readers."