4 ms·

one of the main reasons i think people don't participate is because of the language, a lot of us are very good at reading english but are ashamed about our writ

by cosmez 15y ago

one of the main reasons i think people don't participate is because of the language, a lot of us are very good at reading english but are ashamed about our writing skills. Its very common to be downvoted or insulted because of that, im trying to get pass that problem right now

dekz 15y ago
This isn't reddit, you're not going to get downvoted for incorrect grammar or spelling. Anyone who has been on HN for a day can tell it's a multicultural environment and there are many non-native english speakers. You shouldn't hold back your participation due to insecurities on your spelling or grammar. In my experience the only downvoted posts belong in the categories of; stupid, messaged which consist only of 'haha' or 'this'; Completely offtopic; Insulting or offensive; Incorrect.' In this post I've probably used semi-colons incorrectly, this doesn't I will be downvoted because of it.
- gbog 15y ago
  Sure, but on the other hand one should read and reread and reread again before posting.
  - Stormbringer 15y ago
    That would be easier if the reply box was bigger than the address window on an envelope. It's like the bad old days of trying to use the Eclipse IDE where most of your screen real estate is taken up with tabs and buttons and you only get a narrow 5x80 window on the world. Except that in this case instead of the screen being taken up with masses of widgets, it is consumed with vast tracts of whitespace. Good job there, PG. (Actually, if PG had anything to do with it, I suspect it is a well thought out policy which results because he doesn't like long conversations (possibly a signal to noise bias against long posts?) consider also that there is no easy way to quote the parent, which just wastes bandwidth anyway)
    - mkr-hn 15y ago
      You can resize the box in Chrome.
delluminatus 15y ago
I know it shouldn't be necessary, but I would recommend adding a disclaimer to your posts explaining that english isn't your first language or simply that you apologize for and spelling mistakes. People are much more likely, for whatever reason, to dismiss mistakes when the possibility of such is explicitly acknowledged by the author.
- cosmez 15y ago
  i have seen that before, i always thought people would find that annoying.. but ill give it a try, thanks!

by cosmez 15y ago

dekz 15y ago

This isn't reddit, you're not going to get downvoted for incorrect grammar or spelling. Anyone who has been on HN for a day can tell it's a multicultural environment and there are many non-native english speakers. You shouldn't hold back your participation due to insecurities on your spelling or grammar. In my experience the only downvoted posts belong in the categories of; stupid, messaged which consist only of 'haha' or 'this'; Completely offtopic; Insulting or offensive; Incorrect.' In this post I've probably used semi-colons incorrectly, this doesn't I will be downvoted because of it.

gbog 15y ago
Sure, but on the other hand one should read and reread and reread again before posting.
- Stormbringer 15y ago
  That would be easier if the reply box was bigger than the address window on an envelope. It's like the bad old days of trying to use the Eclipse IDE where most of your screen real estate is taken up with tabs and buttons and you only get a narrow 5x80 window on the world. Except that in this case instead of the screen being taken up with masses of widgets, it is consumed with vast tracts of whitespace. Good job there, PG. (Actually, if PG had anything to do with it, I suspect it is a well thought out policy which results because he doesn't like long conversations (possibly a signal to noise bias against long posts?) consider also that there is no easy way to quote the parent, which just wastes bandwidth anyway)
  - mkr-hn 15y ago
    You can resize the box in Chrome.

delluminatus 15y ago

I know it shouldn't be necessary, but I would recommend adding a disclaimer to your posts explaining that english isn't your first language or simply that you apologize for and spelling mistakes. People are much more likely, for whatever reason, to dismiss mistakes when the possibility of such is explicitly acknowledged by the author.

cosmez 15y ago
i have seen that before, i always thought people would find that annoying.. but ill give it a try, thanks!