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COMMUNITY: Should we create a grammar/spelling patrol?
I see shades of Yahoo! Answers slowly creeping in to Mahalo in the form of awful grammar and spelling. While I see Mahalo is working hard to remove useless questions, answers, and spam, I can't imagine they have the cycles to also directly address spelling and grammar.
I don't think either the questions or the answers provided need to be masterpieces because we are dealing with informal text, nor do I suggest people that don't have perfect English should be belittled, but I do think that blatant misspellings and really poor grammar or word choice should be corrected, at least in the questions. The flood of new activity calls for action soon, lest new users assume our quality is not as high as I know it is.
I believe Jason mentioned something like this in an answer once, but I don't recall seeing anything else about it. How could this function? Ideas?
I don't think either the questions or the answers provided need to be masterpieces because we are dealing with informal text, nor do I suggest people that don't have perfect English should be belittled, but I do think that blatant misspellings and really poor grammar or word choice should be corrected, at least in the questions. The flood of new activity calls for action soon, lest new users assume our quality is not as high as I know it is.
I believe Jason mentioned something like this in an answer once, but I don't recall seeing anything else about it. How could this function? Ideas?
answers (11)
I think some of this is already going on. I see spelling and grammar in questions get cleaned up very regularly. In my view, that's a good thing and helpful for the community.
However, I don't think that there should be a person (or group or whatever) who can edit answers. If a person uses bad grammar and/or spelling, I don't think it should be up to us to change that. At some point it becomes personal responsibility to use correct spelling and grammar, and I don't think we should have people going in and correcting anything.
However, I don't think that there should be a person (or group or whatever) who can edit answers. If a person uses bad grammar and/or spelling, I don't think it should be up to us to change that. At some point it becomes personal responsibility to use correct spelling and grammar, and I don't think we should have people going in and correcting anything.
voted helpful: dumblonde
YES PLEASE
I often write answers here quickly and would love it if someone would correct my grammar.
Not only would this service be goodest for the communities but it would sure help me improve my grammar.
One request though... I'd really like to know what is wrong with my grammar.... It wouldn't be cool for someone to blindly edit my answer. But I sure would appreciate a little "hey, your grammar could be improved in this answer by doing ... "
I often write answers here quickly and would love it if someone would correct my grammar.
Not only would this service be goodest for the communities but it would sure help me improve my grammar.
One request though... I'd really like to know what is wrong with my grammar.... It wouldn't be cool for someone to blindly edit my answer. But I sure would appreciate a little "hey, your grammar could be improved in this answer by doing ... "
voted helpful: dumblonde, demanda, jasoncalacanis
Ack! Please no!
Although I respect your opinion, I really really don't want to see something like this. The last thing these answer pages should have is for each answer to have comments about "you wrote 'who' and you should have written 'whom' " and the next comment saying, "no, 'who' is correct in that context. But you did have a dangling modifier, so that should be changed."
You already have good answers, and if you're a chronic bad grammarer, I haven't noticed. I don't think we should get bogged down with minutia.
Although I respect your opinion, I really really don't want to see something like this. The last thing these answer pages should have is for each answer to have comments about "you wrote 'who' and you should have written 'whom' " and the next comment saying, "no, 'who' is correct in that context. But you did have a dangling modifier, so that should be changed."
You already have good answers, and if you're a chronic bad grammarer, I haven't noticed. I don't think we should get bogged down with minutia.
I agree... I don't think that grammar comments should be added to the public answer pages.
But if someone from the "grammar patrol" was to send me a direct answer, email or GTalk note... I'd be very appreciative :)
I've taken formal grammar classes in the past. However, none of the lessons that I've been taught compare to those that I've learned when someone has said something like, "you shouldn't do that... do this instead".
This of course isn't for everyone. A lot of folks don't like to be criticized so I can't say that this should be a full new "feature" of the system.
But if someone from the "grammar patrol" was to send me a direct answer, email or GTalk note... I'd be very appreciative :)
I've taken formal grammar classes in the past. However, none of the lessons that I've been taught compare to those that I've learned when someone has said something like, "you shouldn't do that... do this instead".
This of course isn't for everyone. A lot of folks don't like to be criticized so I can't say that this should be a full new "feature" of the system.
haha this is the goodest answer!
I think that she may have been replying to my little joke :)
Check out my answer to this question. It's gooder!
You're teh goodest in me book brownrob!
Can I use that quote as a reference on my resume please, Jason? :)
Now here is a suggestion that is what I like!
I have certainly seen the grammar slipping. Of course, Mahalo do try and improve questions as much as possible - but they are lacking the essentials. Capital letters and punctuation!
I think it would be great if there were a grammar/spelling patrol and I would be gleefully willing to sign up. Maybe they could work for an hour a day and get paid for the whole hour?
I think the questions are the biggest problem especially with new members and twitter users. I think the answers are really poor from white belts and I think that after a while they realise they have a lot of effort they need to do in order to achieve a high status and to get the points and tips - they need grammar and spelling correct.
Of course, the biggest problem is that if people are automatically correcting answers, will some members purposely slip as they know it will be corrected?
I have certainly seen the grammar slipping. Of course, Mahalo do try and improve questions as much as possible - but they are lacking the essentials. Capital letters and punctuation!
I think it would be great if there were a grammar/spelling patrol and I would be gleefully willing to sign up. Maybe they could work for an hour a day and get paid for the whole hour?
I think the questions are the biggest problem especially with new members and twitter users. I think the answers are really poor from white belts and I think that after a while they realise they have a lot of effort they need to do in order to achieve a high status and to get the points and tips - they need grammar and spelling correct.
Of course, the biggest problem is that if people are automatically correcting answers, will some members purposely slip as they know it will be corrected?
voted helpful: dumblonde, jasoncalacanis
I was wondering that myself. (If they'll be sloppy because they know we'll be correcting them). But maybe we can just limit it to the answers selected as Best or those that are voted helpful and featured prominently on the page. We shouldn't bother with the unhelpful ones.
Also, I don't think editing should go beyond typos and really obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. Otherwise we risk changing the meaning of answers. And we shouldn't waste time on minutiae like commas and stuff, just the obvious things.
I agree. I think the predominant actions of the grammar/spelling patrol include full stops, capital letters and correcting poor language.
Maybe people that have a poor grammar record can get a "low grammar rating" or a poor spelling record can get a "low spelling rating" on their profile by the patrol?
Maybe people that have a poor grammar record can get a "low grammar rating" or a poor spelling record can get a "low spelling rating" on their profile by the patrol?
I think this is a great idea but I believe it should only be for editing questions, it would help a lot with making sense of some of the questions that appear on here with no sentence structure at all.
However I don't think it should be applied to answers, the quality of an answer should remain as the writer intended. - This does however raise the question of whether or not you should allow people to edit their answer (beyond the 60 minute timeframe currently available).
The key thing that needs to be avoid is changing the actual meaning of questions, especially after someone has already answered. It could maybe be done so that any alterations have to be approved by either the asker or another member of the 'spelling and grammar patrol'.
On a related note, has the inclusion of a spell checker in the question/answer text box been considered?
However I don't think it should be applied to answers, the quality of an answer should remain as the writer intended. - This does however raise the question of whether or not you should allow people to edit their answer (beyond the 60 minute timeframe currently available).
The key thing that needs to be avoid is changing the actual meaning of questions, especially after someone has already answered. It could maybe be done so that any alterations have to be approved by either the asker or another member of the 'spelling and grammar patrol'.
On a related note, has the inclusion of a spell checker in the question/answer text box been considered?
voted helpful: dumblonde
Regarding your spell check comment, Firefox 3 (and possibly earlier versions as well) includes a spell checker built in. Just an FYI.
"This does however raise the question of whether or not you should allow people to edit their answer (beyond the 60 minute timeframe currently available)."
This is something I was thinking about the other day when I answered a question with some wrong information. After the 60 minute time limit was up, I couldn't go back and correct my mistake. Sure I could go back and comment with the right information (which is what I did) but it would be much cleaner If I could edit the original answer with better information. The only time I could see this going bad would be if someone else added something to their answer that you didn't have and you edited your question adding their information. This would probably require some kind of moderator approval after 60 minutes so they can make sure you aren't trying to make your question better to win the tip.
This is something I was thinking about the other day when I answered a question with some wrong information. After the 60 minute time limit was up, I couldn't go back and correct my mistake. Sure I could go back and comment with the right information (which is what I did) but it would be much cleaner If I could edit the original answer with better information. The only time I could see this going bad would be if someone else added something to their answer that you didn't have and you edited your question adding their information. This would probably require some kind of moderator approval after 60 minutes so they can make sure you aren't trying to make your question better to win the tip.
@TheKid, yeah that's a good point there would have to be something to prevent people 'stealing' other people's answer info.
@dcanswerer yeah that's true but as the site becomes increasingly popular and is discovered by the more general public, having a spell checker available to all regardless of browser should draw attention to mistakes and hopefully encourage people to double check before they submit.
@dcanswerer yeah that's true but as the site becomes increasingly popular and is discovered by the more general public, having a spell checker available to all regardless of browser should draw attention to mistakes and hopefully encourage people to double check before they submit.
Well, I would answer, "yes," except that I know someone is going to say, "U R so 20th C."
I've been an editor on many student publications and I firmly believe that we are incapable of editing ourselves so it's nice to have someone at least look over what you write. We all make grammar and spelling mistakes and it would be nice if someone could edit them.
I've noticed mistakes in my answers long after they've expired and would love some sort of mechanism to fix them. Whether it's a group of editors or volunteers, I'm all for it.
I also think that we should point out answers that are full of mistakes and use the comment feature to provide constructive criticism.
I think proper spelling and syntax denote quality and we definitely don't want to sink to a Yahoo! Answers level!
I've noticed mistakes in my answers long after they've expired and would love some sort of mechanism to fix them. Whether it's a group of editors or volunteers, I'm all for it.
I also think that we should point out answers that are full of mistakes and use the comment feature to provide constructive criticism.
I think proper spelling and syntax denote quality and we definitely don't want to sink to a Yahoo! Answers level!
Voted as best: bbrookin
There are sheriff's here that do try and fix some of the grammar. To be honest there are so many new questions asked that there is just not enough time or people to sort through them all. When I see a question that is totally unreadable I will try and make sense out of it. If I can't then I will leave it alone and hope someone else in the community can decipher it. If it is a really slow day I will take the time and correct the I's from i's and capitalize what needs to be. Lately though with Answers booming so much there is not enough time.
It also helps when people who are importing from Twitter fix the grammar in those questions before hitting the save button.
PS> If you ever have a mistake that you notice a little too late please feel free to send me a message. I will be more than happy to fix it for you! Just make sure it's your question.
It also helps when people who are importing from Twitter fix the grammar in those questions before hitting the save button.
PS> If you ever have a mistake that you notice a little too late please feel free to send me a message. I will be more than happy to fix it for you! Just make sure it's your question.
I think that a patrol wouldn't be bad, but I think that integrating a spellchecker into the website itself would be better. I use Opera when I'm on this site, and its integrated spellchecker requires additional setup (which I'll look into later). Most community-fueled websites out there include spellcheckers, so I think Mahalo should do the same. Personally, I am embarassed when I spell things wrong and I would like the tools to correct this myself rather than somebody else doing it for me. Heck, sometimes I even reword my answers if I don't know how to spell what I'm trying to say.
While I would *love* to be on a Grammar Patrol (seriously, I would!), I don't think it's really necessary. Mahalo staff members can already edit questions as needed, and I haven't noticed many atrocious spelling or grammar errors in questions or answers.
As @dumblonde suggested, I think offering constructive criticism via comments is a good idea. Although, some people are very touchy about being corrected. I also think an answer that is terribly ungrammatical, rife with misspelled words should be rated unhelpful so people get the hint.
I'd love to see an integrated spell-check here, but until that happens, Firefox is does the job pretty well for me. Getting the point across is more important to me than having perfect spelling or grammar, but I do think we should all strive for that.
As @dumblonde suggested, I think offering constructive criticism via comments is a good idea. Although, some people are very touchy about being corrected. I also think an answer that is terribly ungrammatical, rife with misspelled words should be rated unhelpful so people get the hint.
I'd love to see an integrated spell-check here, but until that happens, Firefox is does the job pretty well for me. Getting the point across is more important to me than having perfect spelling or grammar, but I do think we should all strive for that.
Voted as best: lesliec
This is an excellent idea! We should really do this.... we could give "sherif" privs to a select group of Brown/Black Belts we trust to let them edit questions/answers for spelling and grammar--but not for content obviously.
Perhaps if we had a revisions system we could show that an answer was revised three times and by who.... that would give the ability for someone to report if a change was to content as opposed to spelling. At the very least versions would give folks confidence we're not changing the meaning of what they are doing.
After M2 (Mahalo 2.0) comes out we should look at this.
We have a HUGE feature for Answers we're going to push tomorrow.... then back to M2 work for two full weeks up until launch!
Perhaps if we had a revisions system we could show that an answer was revised three times and by who.... that would give the ability for someone to report if a change was to content as opposed to spelling. At the very least versions would give folks confidence we're not changing the meaning of what they are doing.
After M2 (Mahalo 2.0) comes out we should look at this.
We have a HUGE feature for Answers we're going to push tomorrow.... then back to M2 work for two full weeks up until launch!
@jasoncalacanis... how does editting answers square with the Mahalo policy that users own their content?
yes please,
i mean if someone was reading a question OR answer they might not understand, ha and people might start to wonder why they are never getting any points for it haha.
and sure thing it really helps improve someone's grammar as well as spelling.
i mean if someone was reading a question OR answer they might not understand, ha and people might start to wonder why they are never getting any points for it haha.
and sure thing it really helps improve someone's grammar as well as spelling.
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