Cannonball Wrote:This is all stuff people should have learned by 3rd or 4th grade English, yet I see these two words continuously mixed up.

There is also something we have all learned in school and it's 'what you don't use, you forget'

This is all good about spelling class but not everyone types a lot outside of a forum or email. Verbal is the most popular form of communication, so then we lose all that knowledge of how to spell.

I do however know my English (lack in punctuation) but do not want to correct myself, with caps/periods etc.. every time I type because of the many forums I'm on and PM's I go though.

jmarksbery Wrote:Didn't the old Gauge have 2 choices for the screen, the classic blue and then one with a white background and black letters, I think called Custom?

When Peter changed to vBulletin, he started off with black letters on white background. There were so many complaints that he added the blue background as an alternate choice. Mikey and I could see where he basically created a second set of coding in order to do this, and I guess when he started Zealot, it became too much for him to redo. I'm not sure we want to ask Pat to recode all of this again, but there probably is a way to do it. I know some forums have multiple choices, others stick to one only. It would be nice if we could do two. I'll talk to Pat and see if it could be accomplished easily.

To me the blue background is easier on my eyes (which I do have problems with) but for some it may help them the other way (and stop the whimpering)

My only concern is that some people, including myself, may feel a bit intimidated by the talent on display on THE Gauge and may not post pictures for fear of criticism, whether warranted or not. I hope that the fact if someone may not spell correctly or have bad written grammar may keep them from participating in this forum at all. Spell check complete...

scubadude Wrote:My only concern is that some people, including myself, may feel a bit intimidated by the talent on display on THE Gauge and may not post pictures for fear of criticism, whether warranted or not. I hope that the fact if someone may not spell correctly or have bad written grammar may keep them from participating in this forum at all. Spell check complete...

This is an excellent point. I remember not too long ago when my idea of scenery was a wash of brown then I learned ( learnt ) about building up in layers and making it messy.
I personally enjoy the white on blue background. Thanks to Don I now know about the flying A for font size.

Hi Richard,

I hope you'll always find that the overwhelming response to pictures of the people's work, regardless of skill level, is positive and welcoming. Sometimes members specifically ask for constructive criticism and they get just that, which is very helpful. What I like about forums like this is both the way very accomplished and skilled modelers can inspire the rest of us but also that everyone is welcome to participate regardless of their experience or skill level. Sometimes posting pictures of my work has provided me with an objective look at what I've done that either affirmed the pride I took in the work or else motivated me to improve, so there is real value to taking the risk of showing your stuff. Besides, we LOVE pictures! They make the forum visually exciting.

regards,
Ralph

jmarksbery Wrote:I thought this was a railroad forum, not an English class! Our language is much different than those in English speaking countries elsewhere. Get on with it!
Jim

Sorry but I'm with nacho on this one.

i just can't stand to see a bunch of stuff written out like one run on sentance because someone is too lazy to use capitalization and punctuation trying to sort through what someone is trying to say when they do that is extremely trying expecally wen they start uzing pour grammer and speling or txt spch 2 tri & convay what othrwz mite be helpfl informashun or 2 ask a queshtun

Like I said, I can understand when someone does it if English is not a first language. It is said to be one of the most confusing written languages to learn. However, when someone has grown up their whole life learning English basics and have no handicaps that make typing difficult, why must people resort to laziness just because it's on the internet? It's rude and disrespectful to others you are trying to communicate with.

I will argue with him about Google, however. :mrgreen:

I wish I had the white on blue, but I've still got black on white with all of the "keys" hidden. I have two problems with computers. I learned to type in high school with a full size keyboard. The reduced size of computer keyboards results in me hitting two keys at a time more often than not. I also have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse, and for some reason, when I capitalize or hit the space bar, it ignores me as often as it does the command (typical Microsoft junk.) Fortunately, I have found out where to look for the invisible edit key, so that I can go back and edit out my mistakes since I invariably hit the submit key and then proof read. I seem to have made a career of doing everything backwards. I guess lefty's are like that!

Russ Bellinis Wrote:I wish I had the white on blue, but I've still got black on white with all of the "keys" hidden. I have two problems with computers. I learned to type in high school with a full size keyboard. The reduced size of computer keyboards results in me hitting two keys at a time more often than not. I also have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse, and for some reason, when I capitalize or hit the space bar, it ignores me as often as it does the command (typical Microsoft junk.) Fortunately, I have found out where to look for the invisible edit key, so that I can go back and edit out my mistakes since I invariably hit the submit key and then proof read. I seem to have made a career of doing everything backwards. I guess lefty's are like that!

If you're having troubles with your wireless keyboard, make sure there is an unobstructed path between the keyboard and the receiver eye. When I had my wireless, it wouldn't work if there was even the slightest bit of stuff in front of the eye. Also, fresh batteries in they keyboard will always improve it's performance. If you've done those two things and it's still giving you fits, then we can write it of as Microsoft junk and you should probably look into a different brand of wireless.

I had a wireless keyboard and mouse with my last computer. The receiver would move and I couldn't do squat. The batteries would last but a few days on the mouse, a week at best. The ones in the keyboard seem to last a long time, but I wondered why I had them in the first place, I never used them that far away from the computer anyway, so I changed them to a wired mouse and keyboard and solved all those annoying problems.

As far as you seeing us black on white, I'd be hard pressed to see how. Can you send me a screen shot, we really only have one color scheme and I think others would like to know how you're getting the white background. Does this happen on other sites that you go to?

I would bet that some of it comes from the "texting-on-the-cellphone" crowd that tries to say a lot with as few letters and punctuation as possible. I just ignore the post and go to the next one.
fwiw

hewkd on fonx werkd 4 me

Squidbait Wrote:If you haven''t go the energy to hit the "shift" key and the period to start and end a sentence, or hit "return" to start a new thought, I haven't got the energy to wade through your stream-of-conciousness text to figure out what the heck you're talking about.

You want help from people? Make it easy for people to help you. Type so people can read what you're saying.

In my view, this is the nugget of Squid's comment. Written questions need to be organized in a manner that invites response. While I don't like text-speak writing, the formatting of the question / comment carries greater weight with me.

Matt

I find that posting on the Forums has generally improved my grammar and spelling, although I suffer, like Russ, from old keyboard hands that often hit two keys at once. Also, and I'm not sure whether it's me or the keyboard, I often elide the final letter on words such as "they" resulting in "the" in its place and some possible confusion. I do keep a dictionary at hand at all times, too, when on the computer, as the spell-checking function speaks only American English. At least it underlines possible errors for my perusal. Poor spelling bothers me only when coupled with a lack of punctuation, rendering even otherwise valid questions or comments unintelligible.

And finally:
Ralph is right, Richard. No one should be afraid to post pictures of their work here. No one is going to make nasty remarks about it because that's not the kind of place that this is. If you ask for constructive criticism, that's what you'll get. If you post something to merely share it with the rest of us, chances are such that you'll likely get several favourable comments, too. Just as there are modellers out there with greater skills than we possess, there are always others with lesser skills, eager to learn from those of us who are still ourselves learning.

Wayne

There is a poster on another board that I subscribe to who seems to have no concept of participles. I often struggle through his posts because they have useful information, but I wonder if any of the civic bodies he submits to read it (or are they required to?)
I'm afraid that reading bad English for the last 40 years has had an effect (not an affect - I do that myself) on my spelling. My laptop has keys that I often miss -- not sure what to do about it.
Most unfortunate are those posters who can't explain what it is they don't understand.