Use of Language
Proofread your posts before hitting Submit.
You have something to say, and you have found just the right place to say it. You created an account on the web forum, and you start typing your first message. You are excited because you have found like minded individuals with whom you can share your views.
You have been typing away for five minutes, and you have about a page worth of material. You are excited about the idea that you are sharing. You hit the submit button, and the thread has been started. You get a few replies and wonder why you aren't getting more. It seems to be an issue into which everyone on the forum would really sink their teeth.
Does your audience understand your message? Can your audience make it from one end of a sentence to another without having to do mental gymnastics to try to figure out what you are saying? A typographical error or two is alright, but if the people you are trying to reach have to re-read what you have posted just to figure it out, you may just lose their interest. How is your grammar? Do you know where the commas need to be, did you use proper capitalization, how many spelling errors did you make? Did you try to correct your errors? If you have too many errors, guess what, your message is going to get lost! For something as important as the issue you want to discuss, you should try harder to make yourself more clearly understood.
The internet is warping our proper use of language, no matter which is our native one. I am sure that every language has some sort of internet shorthand to it. This shorthand is acceptable in some instances, like chatting. Other than that, I feel, people need to make use of the power of proper language to express themselves. They can not do it if they do not use language properly. It does not matter what language it is. If you are posting in French, then do it per the French grammatical rules. The same for any other language, and don't forget dialects. Even some dialects have their own written grammatical rules.
I know that there may be mistakes in this. If I find one, I will try to correct it as soon as possible or repost it with the corrections. I want my readers to clearly understand what I am saying. If a reader can not, I need to try harder and look closer at what I have written.
Please, I beg you, proofread your work, then send it to us to read.