Why shoot the messenger?

Forums are all about giving and understanding, the search for answers to questions, especiallly in the mine field that is Spain

Why when someone questions the etiquette of CAPITAL LETTERS are they so abused?

Morerosado spends more time than she should trying to answer many peoples every day problems/queries about what affects them in Spain. Wether she is OTT who's to judge and really who are we to judge??

Like all posts take what suits you, leave what you don't need, but don't abuse/beliitle people who are genuinely trying to help!!

There are far worse than her here who post absolute sh**e

Love or hate her imput fine!

But don't shoot/abuse the messenger

Hear ,hear David. I'll second that.

Me too. I would also add that Morerosada devotes a lot of time raising awareness and fundraising for a charity and her tireless efforts have made a huge difference to them.

She can be incredibly rude and puts people off from posting, especially new posters.  Maybe she doesn't realise she's doing it...

David - you say 'who are we to judge' individuals and that is a fair point that none of us should deny (and to avoid any potential doubt, I include myself in this). 

Reading through numerous threads since I joined EOS, this is an issue that keeps rearing its head and this may in part due to the fact that the written word can be misread / misunderstood. Equally, some people are blunt in what they write and the messages they are conveying, and some can appear disrespectful, rude and belittling (and I am not referring to any individual in particuar - to avoid any doubt, again) which is unfortunate when the purpose of the contribution may be to advise and help others.

The thread around the use of capitals in posts was raised as a discussion item and a few people responded (myself included). If people dont want a response from others when they compose a new thread, perhaps the issues / theme should be relayed directly to Justin rather than through an open forum arena? I havent read responses that were written last evening or this morning (if there were any) and presume from the fact that a separate thread has been started here and the 'use of capitals' thread has been deleted, that the responses from the latter became contentious in some way (hence the deletion). We will all agree, Im sure, that that was the right action for EOS to take.

As a final comment on this, I have been put off from posting on numerous threads since joining EOS purely for the fact that the comments provided by others have been rude / disrespectful / belittling etc etc etc. So its not just 'newbies' who may decide not to contribute to threads because of any previous content or the general tone of previous comments

This message was last edited by wend691 on 15/06/2011.

Surely the whole point of using Standard English Language procedures when writing is to make the content readable.

Anything which detracts from an articles readability means one lost reader.

A post written all in uppercase is just such a case.

So are posts which contain glaring spelling errors.

So are posts which are totally lacking in punctuation.

So are posts totally lacking in paragraphisation.

So are posts written in 'textspeak'.

Far worse however, is the post which combines some or all of the above.

Invariably when these appear, not necessarily on this forum, the result is just a wall of words and is totally unreadable.

When we are kids we are taught in school to use mixed cases when writing, using capitals only when the rules demand their use. It makes things so much easier to read.

Imagine trying to read any of John Le Carre's works without the correct use of the English Language rules.

Example of a Wall of Words;

SURELY THE POINT OF USING STANDARD ENGLISH LANGUGE RULES WHEN WRITING IS TO MAKE THE CONTENT READABLE. ANYTHING WHICH DETRACTS FROM AN ARTICLES READABILITY MEANS ONE LOST READER. A POST WRITTEN ALL IN UPPERCASE IS A CASE IN POINT. SO ARE POSTS WHICH CONTAIN GLARING SPELLING ERRORS. SO ARE POSTS WHICH ARE TOTALLY LACKING IN PUNCTUATION. SO ARE POSTS TOATALLY LACKING IN PARAGRAPHISATION. SO ARE POSTS WRITTEN IN TEXTSPEAK. WORSE STILL HOWEVER IS THE POST WHICH CONTAINS ALL OR SOME OF THE ABOVE. INVARIABLY WHEN THESEAPPEAR NOT NECESSARILY ON THIS FORUM THE RESULT IS JUST A WALL OF WORDS AND IS TOTALLY UNREADABLE. WHEN WE WERE KIDS WE WERE TAUGHT TO USE MIXED CASESWHEN WRITING USING CAPITALS ONLY WHEN THE RULES DEMAND THEIR USE. IT MAKES THINGS SO MUCH EASIER TO READ. IMAGINE TRYING TO READ ANY OF JOHN LE CARRES WORKS WITHOUT THE CORRECT USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE RULES.

It hurts the eyes trying to read it... so your brain gives up halfway through...

If ever you look at the T's and C's of contracts you undertake when downloading programs from the net, or certain airlines and other businesses, you will find that occasionally they are  all in Uppercase. If this si the case the next time you look, be aware that the seller may just have something to hide, because virtually no-one reads T's and C's especially when its all in caps...

I am not a member of the Language Police but it does annoy me that some people just cannot be bothered. If you haven't got a grip of the correct use of your own native language how the hell do you expect to cope with La Lengua Espanol?

fb

I am a long term lurker but have posted once or twice.

I would post more but do sometimes find it difficult to word things in a manner that people do not take the wrong way.

I have been slated on other forums for this so shy away from posting now.

I am sure i am not the only one.

I think mores post was not intended to offend but she recieved a lot of backlash for it.

This in itself puts me off from joining in discussions so will most likely continue to lurk.

Caz

Hello Caz:

I so understand what you are saying.  However, there will always be those who take what you are saying the wrong way.  All we have here is the written word, and we can't see the person, their body language, behind the screen. 

Then there are those who likely bring their powerlessness, suffering,  family difficulties or other 3D problems to the forum, and take it out on people here, knowing they can do so with impunity. 

I do hope you will post, Caz.  Don't let bullying drive you away.

Patricia

I have posted lots on this forum and only this week was the victim of some really nasty comments which I felt were undeserved. In the end Justin deleted the persons post.

BUT.............the person who championed me on that occasion was More.......................

I agree that it's sometimes difficult when posting because as you have already said, we only have the written word, no face, no gesture and no body language.

However, there is no reason at all to deride for pointing out the rudeness of using capital letters. Perhaps sometimes More is less than tactful in her approach, but she more ( excuse the pun ) than makes up for that small ommission with the wealth of information she gives.

I have to say some of you really need to get a     LIFE!!!!!

This site was intended to be used for people to help one another with real experiences of living in Spain and much of the advice on this forum is very welcomed and valuable.

I also know that we won't always agree with someones point of view and like a few of you have mentioned it can be hard to express yourself on a keyboard rather than face to face, but give some people a break.  Who cares if there is  few spelling mistakes or someone has forgotten to take of the caps lock.  It is wrong to knock anyone.

NIGHT NIGHT

Monica

Fully agree with you, Monica. 

Where there is good will, and where the messages and posts are from the heart, then as you say, a few spelling mistakes or uppercase are immaterial IMO.  After all this forum is not, I believe, a competition in literary merit.

Best to all

Patricia 

This tread was not about upper case lower case or whatever

It was let the girl (Morerosado) post and whatever or whoever she is let her post without all the crap that comes her way!!

I think Shanchez and Campana should leave More alone

So sad this forum is sliding down hill fast and big time

Monica - "This site was intended to be used for people to help one another with real experiences of living in Spain".

Who says that that is all it was intended for?  All sites like this are commercial operations intended to make the site owner money.  So, yes, they contain help and advice on lots of fairly mundane topics.  But they also include exchanges of views and opinions on topical issues.  Anything to get traffic up and bring in more advertisers.  So, to suggest that those who enjoy a good banter need to get a life is a bit silly when the poster themselves is joining that debate.  After all, nobody's forcing you to open this thread Monica.

I think foxbat wins the star prize for far and away the best post on this thread giving cogent arguments as to why the use of capitals is undesirable.  Sadly, I missed More's post which seems to have kicked off the censorship debate which has struggled a bit for the lack of people having seen the offending post in the first place.