Post headers need to be more informative!

Longbow

Enlightened
Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
591
Location
Wisconsin, USA
Why do some CPF'ers lack the common curtessey of including enough info in their subject headers when posting? Post headers,(subject/topic), such as: Help, In Boston..., Need Info, Newie question, ect, are rediculous. CPF viewers have to risk wasting time just to find out the post doesn't concern them. I for one will never again waste my time checking these type of posts.
 

Aloft

Enlightened
Joined
May 27, 2004
Messages
290
Location
Bellevue, WA
Agreed. . . I usually just skip over the ones with subjects like "Noob. . . dumb question" or "What do you think?". Thankfully, most of our posters seem to "get it". Perhaps a mentioning of this in the FAQ would be appropriate.
 

Sigman

* The Arctic Moderator *
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
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Location
"The 49th State"
I've probably been "guilty" of this at times as I'm human, but indeed agree with you on this! I often skip over them as well. Wise post!

This carries over to our B/S/T Forums as well...stinks to see a header of something you may be interested in, only to find out it's already /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sold.gif! It really gets old having to remind folks to update their threads (that includes post titles as well as their posts!).
 

LightChucker

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
617
Location
Raytown, Missouri USA
You make a good point, and I agree.

For the same reason, I will stop reading a post if it is so poorly written that I have to interpret it. I don't require much, but I do appreciate simple things like:

- A noun and a verb in each sentence
- Capitalizing the first word of each sentence
- At least a period at the end of each sentence

Here is a tip:
- Before submitting a post, just do a "Ctrl-a" to select what you have written so far.
- Open your word processor.
- Do a "Ctrl-v" to paste everything into a new document.
- Run the grammar and spell-checker.
- Make corrections.
- Do another "Ctrl-a" and "Ctrl-c" to copy the corrected document to the clipboard.
- Go back to the post you are writing.
- Do another "Ctrl-a" to select the original post.
- Finally, do a "Ctrl-v" to overlay it with the corrected document.

Chuck
 

Topper

Flashaholic*
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Messages
2,630
Location
North East Arkansas
I will submit A counter point.
You guys & gals spell anyway you want to.
I will attempt to figure it out if I am interested in your post. I will not be counting nouns nor the verbs as I dropped out of school in the tenth grade to get a job. I know English is a second or even third language for some here.
Topper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Empath

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
Messages
8,508
Location
Oregon
Re: P. h. need to be!

I agree that the header problem is a problem, but minor. I'm more concerned about alienating those with linguistic skills that don't meet the expectations of those members demanding perfection.

Edit: This line deleted as contrary to my own personal goals, but more importantly the feelings of others
 

Wits' End

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Messages
2,327
Location
Remote NEast Minnesota, next to Lake Superior
I have to agree. I cringe at some of the gramatical and spelling errors, as well as some of the language or lan***ge. At the same time I agree w/ Empath that some peoples linguistic skills just are not there, inclooding myne. Even though I cringe I quite often find that I benefit from posts or threads that would send Miss Ross (my 9th grade english teacher /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) through the roof.
So feel free to ignore posts/threads that don't meet your standards, IMHO you will be the one who(m?) is hurt.
I still find myself amazed at the diversity of the population of CPF.
 

Draco_Americanus

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 11, 2002
Messages
696
Location
Michigan
Asking for a better post header is well within reason but to ask for correct and perfect spelling and gramer is IMHO going too far. If this was being edited to be in a news paper or book, that would be diffrent.
I have dyslexia and learning disabilitys and have a hard time just expressing my feelings and ideas in text, spelling and grammer are even harder, even after proof reading My posts mistakes still happen, thats life.
 

Sigman

* The Arctic Moderator *
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
10,124
Location
"The 49th State"
I used to be a great speller and I can type fairly fast as well. However I'm finding that as the older I get, the more I'm reaching for the dictionary. On top of that...my fingers still want to type at the speed of sound and they don't always hit the correct keys.

Oh well...I try and review my posts as well as I can, but many times I'll go back and see that something I've already posted isn't "perfect"...

I'll stick with trying to keep headers a little more informative!
 

Kiessling

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 26, 2002
Messages
16,140
Location
Old World
We could always introduce a double-standard ... non-native speakers can spell and write like they want and the natives are whipped
whip.gif
for every single mistake ...
Demon11.gif


Seriously though ... IMHO demanding the perfect English on an international forum is futile and unfair at best, but the quest for informative headers is not.

bernhard
 

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
19,414
Location
Federal Way WA. USA
Eie trie tooo spel korecttley, but being human, I too make grammatical and spelling errors.
Like "toliet", "blub", and "kapeesh". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Flush teh lite blubs adn kapeesh downe thuh toliet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

Aloft

Enlightened
Joined
May 27, 2004
Messages
290
Location
Bellevue, WA
I think demanding perfect spelling or grammar IS going too far. . . and that's completely off topic from Unregulated's original post (and, IMO, his intent). I believe his beef was strictly with uninformative headers (correct me if I'm wrong Unregulated. . . ), and that's the idea with which I agreed.

I don't support "dissing" people for minor grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors. There's a large contingent of folks here for whom English is not their primary language. . . and if they can communicate an idea in English, they are at least one language ahead of me!

But that still doesn't prevent someone from having an informative header. I typically ignore uninteresting headers, but I usually do check out all others, spelled wrong or not.

"Ending a sentence with a preposition is an annoyance up with which I will not put. . ." Winston Churchill, I think
 

nerdgineer

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
2,778
Location
Southern California
Jeez, I read this forum for entertainment as well as info, and don't mind cryptic titles or creative English at all. I appreciate it when people who speak other languages work hard to try to communicate with me in English (because I don't know THEIR language) and hope they would be forgiving of me if I should ever try something in their language.

I mean what usually counts is how much they're asking, and if shipping is included...
 

cobb

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
2,957
I agree with the header info. Using dial up, it can take FOREVER for a post to load, then to jsut discover I wasted my time. On the other hand, I do not know it has a limit on the length of the post too for the topic header.

As for grammar, Ive seen some poor/creative writing depending on how you want to look at it from disabled people writing me. So, I decided not to let that interfear with the flow of information.
 
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