Polite request 're posting style

The ' is not in the wrong place.

It is superfluous.

I agree phoenix

Sometimes a post is tltr but could possibly be tackled if paragraphed.

(Too long to read)

As one of those with very poor sight, I very much appreciate paragraphs and white spaces.

AMD makes text dance and undulate (quite fascinating to watch really) so posts without the above are not just hard but impossible to read.

However, I certainly understand that when writing something in passion or distress, it is easy to forget how it will seem on the page.

Nor is everyone as familiar with the use of punctuation; many have reading and learning problems. So it distresses me a little when those who have none of these issues, seek to make those who do, feel inadequate and ashamed.

I do NOT mean this present OP

Nor do I think people choose to ignore requests to use punctuation, paragraphs and white space - they simply do not see these requests, the nature of Gransnet being that one can select what and where to read.
Or they may see and then forget.

Thank you phoenix, I am one of those for whom you advocate but for all the above reasons I don't think it will continue.

I think it is irrelevant how any of us post. You either choose to read or you don’t. I really don’t give a monkeys toot about how anyone uses paragraphs, commas, grammar, spacing or whatever else. It is none of my business .

Pheonix…… On the surface its not at all an unreasonable request.
As a general rule I already try my best to do this.

But where will it end?

Gabriella54 does have a point, which rules should we try to follow and which can we ignore?

This thread comes in a long line of 'Polite' requests, I seem to remember one suggesting not to 'Darken Threads', another 'No complaining about MIL/DIL etc.' threads, and yet another suggesting 'No Acronyms', and so on and so on.

Forgive me, but I'm beginning to feel a little bit like I'm still in school!!

This is an open forum, and I realise this may upset some people and I am not trying to be argumentative or rude, but isn't it down to each of us to cope as best we can like adults with some of the minutiae of life without expecting others to do it for us?

Not forgetting that the op is really asking for the majority to spend more of their time typing, checking and previewing what they write.

Which is very stressful.
I know because it takes me quite a while to compose and then follow the above to make sure I'm readable.

When really all most of us wants is to reach out to another person for conversation and company!!

BTW do people realise they can magnify the screen if they have trouble seeing?
It might just solve a few difficulties.

My feeling is that it is inappropriate to comment on the style, layout, grammar etc. of anyone's post. However, I think that phoenix has a perfectly valid point about using more paragraphs to improve accessibility.

I do not know how GNHQ works, but I wonder if it would be possible, where accessibility is compromised, to do a simple edit and then ask the OP's permission to apply it (all done 'behind the scenes', not in the public domain, of course).

I think that would be asking a lot Amagram.

I get the point about letting people do what they want but as Bradfordlass has pointed out that certain folk have a particular problem and need more white space etc to be able to read, it seems reasonable to try.

Some posts are very long and it would help.

However I doubt that I will remember.

I find that generally most of the long posts without paragraphs and punctuation are written by someone who is in distress due to something which is happening in his or her life.
Therefore I tend to disregard grammatical errors and just read the post and all the comments to the very end.
Too much time on my hands? No, I just enjoy Gransnet!

From reading lots of different threads/posts since I joined a few months ago, I can pretty much guess those who had a secretarial background/training by the layout of their posts.

Of course, we can all make mistakes with spelling, punctuation and grammar and that’s without factoring predictive text into the equation!

The answer is to always preview before posting so that most errors are eliminated and to be generous regarding the few mishaps that slip under the radar. Let’s be kind Ladies (and Gents)!

I agree. It does make a post look more inviting to the eye if the text is not all screwed up together.

It works on this site, but on others, when you click 'send', it ignores the spacing.

This has made me think about previous posts and replies which I have done.

I now feel I must go back and check them!

?

I agree that spelling/grammar mistakes may be due to limited writing skills or to emotion/distress and so should not be criticised but phoenix wasn't doing that.

I sometimes feel I use too many paragraphs and that makes a post look quite long and possibly off-putting so I am actually pleased to read that it's helpful to those with sight problems.

When writing we should maybe think more about timing than grammar. When we stop to take a deep breath or to think about what to say next that would be a good time to start a new para. The grammar critics may then criticise for incorrect use of para's but if it really helps some posters, it may be worth thinking about.

Surely if you don’t like the style of writing then you just don’t need to bloomin’ well read it.

We are not at school and this is not GCE English is it?

It's more a case of making the post easier to read Gillybob not a criticism of the author's style. Long blocks of text are difficult to get through, I often have to read through several times to ensure I have the meaning clear.
I understand of course that sometimes people are distressed when they post on here which results in a lengthy post. It doesn't take long though to go back and put spaces in your text.

After a few days Phoenix nobody will remember to space out their posts, why doesn’t the GN member with sight problems enlarge the post?

lemongrass one friend sends me emails written in large font capitals and I have problems reading because there are no spaces. Another writes in a small font but has many paragraphs and I can manage to read that.

Enlarging the print does not always help with AMD and Fuchs which I have, but I am grateful that the OP has raised this subject yet again.

Like Bradfordlass it is easier to read when well spaced even if the paragraphs are leaping up than half a page 4 all jumbled together. I do not care about grammar and spelling- only spacing. Give a thought to those less fortunate than yourself.

I will hide behind the sofa now!

There was me thinking GNHQ make the rules.

I agree Callistemon that the ' is in, fact, superfluous, but if you must use one - re is 'regarding', abbreviated. So.....

Never mind.

I agree with the OP. My sight is fine, not as good as it was twenty years ago, but when I face thirty lines of solid text that is not divided up at all, I leave that post and go on to a different one.

It is nothing to do with grammar or perfect English, it is just the sheer bulk of it - like eating a suet pudding continuously in one mouthful, having the next forkful shoved into my mouth before I have swallowed the first. The absence of any full stops or commas has the same effect on the brain, and reading something with neither punctuation or paragraphs leaves me as breathless as if I had run up three flights of stairs without taking breath.

The paragraphs don't even need to be cut up into bits with the meaning separate in each chunk - it could be chopped up randomly. Just go down the finished post before pressing send, and press enter or do a line break after every two or three sentences.

If you don't believe me, open a couple of printed novels in a bookshop and compare long pages with no breaks with ones where there are three, four or five paragraphs to a page. Which would you read on and on, and which would you put down pretty soon and go and make a cuppa? would you rather people read your post or abandoned it or read to the end, understood it and answered? If you find your posts don't get an answer, could this be the reason?

Actually I think it's "reference to". Not "regarding".

Yes, of course.
I've never used one so I looked it up:

Re is not an abbreviation for anything. It is an English preposition in use since the 18th Century. It means "in the matter of, with reference to".

Having carried through the OP's request in all my posts since reading this thread, I conclude that it will nit work.

One has to have read the initial request and subsequently follow through on all one's comments, which I have.
How many of you will actually accede to the 'polite request?

'

Agree, gonegirl. If some letters of a word are missed out deliberately, the ' is used to mark where they would have been - in this case after the "re" to replace the "ference" (cf don't for do not, wouldn't for would not, e'er for ever and so on)

Not that I am saying that this bit of pedantry Eng. Lang. has anything whatsoever to do with cutting up long posts into manageable chunks, but if the title is going to be criticised, it might as well be done accurately..

Actually re isn’t short for regarding or reference to. It’s from the Latin “in re” meaning “in the matter of”.

So when you come to think of it, having the apostrophe where it was originally was probably correct, denoting the missing “in” ?

Some people (eg those who are dyslexic) like lots of 'white' space in posts!

This is so true. Thank you to everyone who understands the reason for the request and is prepared to help and a big thank you to pheonix.

I agree, sodapop, those to whom this could refer may be completely oblivious to the request as they often seem to be new posters, sometimes in distress, requesting help with relationships.

It could be a release to write down the problems and little thought may be given to punctuation or spacing.

A polite request may miss the target audience.