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I've thought about this before too, especially with forums. Here, for example, there are lots of non-native speakers who make little mistakes that I would like

I've thought about this before too, especially with forums. Here, for example, there are lots of non-native speakers who make little mistakes that I would like to correct. But some people see that as rude or as being overly picky. But when I'm learning a foreign language I want people to point out my mistakes. I like the way that StackOverflow does it where you can request edits. That way it doesn't waste other people's time or interfere with the conversation.

apexalpha 8y ago
>But some people see that as rude or as being overly picky. But when I'm learning a foreign language I want people to point out my mistakes. As a Dutchman and non-native speaker of English who learned most of it online I can tell you that I've always welcomed 'grammer nazis'. Especially before mobile phones made spellcheck a constant, online posts would engrave words in your brain with the wrong spelling. I wished every board had a 'pull request' feature to privately let posters know about typos, like StackOverflow. We still need to fix pronounciation though. When I was 14 I always thought Windows was telling me my copy was Genuine (Guh-nine) in stead of Genuine (Gen-you-in). But when do you ever hear that word on TV? Took me years before I stopped saying 'Guh-nine' in my head. p.s. there is one in here for ya.
- coatmatter 8y ago
  pronunciation - not pronounciation. :) (Is that what you meant by "there is one in here for ya"?) But yes, I too have the universal "simple typo fixer" software idea on my Ideas list. Far too often, I come across atrocious spelling or grammar but don't want to fix it lest I be called out for being pedantic (or worse: not be called out and instead be silently scorned). I'm not talking about writing beautiful prose (something I can't do), but just simple things such as usage of apostrophes. Apostrophe usage is probably the one that is most misunderstood for people who can otherwise write reasonably. [Never use an apostrophe unless it's for ownership or "is" - I think that's the best rule of thumb I can think of that will almost always work.] People who write for a living also can be surprisingly regular offenders yet those are the ones who are often completely uncontactable (for obvious fair-enough reasons).
  - apexalpha 8y ago
    > pronunciation - not pronounciation. :) (Is that what you meant by "there is one in here for ya"?) Yes! A difficult one for non-native speakers because of the seemingly arbitrary dropping of the 'o'. Pronounce -> pronunciation.

apexalpha 8y ago

>But some people see that as rude or as being overly picky. But when I'm learning a foreign language I want people to point out my mistakes. As a Dutchman and non-native speaker of English who learned most of it online I can tell you that I've always welcomed 'grammer nazis'. Especially before mobile phones made spellcheck a constant, online posts would engrave words in your brain with the wrong spelling. I wished every board had a 'pull request' feature to privately let posters know about typos, like StackOverflow. We still need to fix pronounciation though. When I was 14 I always thought Windows was telling me my copy was Genuine (Guh-nine) in stead of Genuine (Gen-you-in). But when do you ever hear that word on TV? Took me years before I stopped saying 'Guh-nine' in my head. p.s. there is one in here for ya.

coatmatter 8y ago
pronunciation - not pronounciation. :) (Is that what you meant by "there is one in here for ya"?) But yes, I too have the universal "simple typo fixer" software idea on my Ideas list. Far too often, I come across atrocious spelling or grammar but don't want to fix it lest I be called out for being pedantic (or worse: not be called out and instead be silently scorned). I'm not talking about writing beautiful prose (something I can't do), but just simple things such as usage of apostrophes. Apostrophe usage is probably the one that is most misunderstood for people who can otherwise write reasonably. [Never use an apostrophe unless it's for ownership or "is" - I think that's the best rule of thumb I can think of that will almost always work.] People who write for a living also can be surprisingly regular offenders yet those are the ones who are often completely uncontactable (for obvious fair-enough reasons).
- apexalpha 8y ago
  > pronunciation - not pronounciation. :) (Is that what you meant by "there is one in here for ya"?) Yes! A difficult one for non-native speakers because of the seemingly arbitrary dropping of the 'o'. Pronounce -> pronunciation.