Spelling

You are obviously feeling quite brave this afternoon Gabriella

I think it probably is that people care less about spelling and grammar than previously. The important thing is to be understood.
It doesn't bother me as long as I can understand the word or the phrase.
I find lack of paragraphs a bit difficult to read though.

So many reasons GG vocabulary has evolved and the way we speak has changed. I agree it sets my teeth on edge when I see 'of' instead of have and 'loose' instead of lose to name two frequently recurring errors.
I don't think its important to most people and I wouldn't be crass enough to correct people but I find it irritating.

So do I Ilovecheese to the extent that I give up reading those long convoluted posts which have no paragraphs. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Cherrytree
I'm unfazed by anything anyone could say.
If it's nice, good.
If not, ditto.
I can bite bullets.
Each to their own opinion. To always agree is boring.

I admire that about you GabriellaG54, even though I don't always agree with your posts.

GG54, you used a split infinitive (to always agree) in your comment! Tut, tut.?

I critisised a woman on Facebook once and was astounded by the angry backlash!

As one issue in the plot of Line of Duty apparently hinged on the common mis-spelling of 'definitely', I hope that those who have perpetuated this error will now realise that it is wrong to spell it 'definately'! When I got a new class of mature students, one of the first things I did was to ask them to spell 'definite'. As most of them were wrong, I then asked them to spell 'finite'; and the penny dropped!

I've spelt it "definately" before now. On here too!

It's understandable Gonegirl
If you were to pronounce definite as it's spelt: de (with an open 'e') -fi (with the 'i' as in in) - nite (as in bite) it would sound wrong to virtually all of us.
I think most of us pronounce it this way: de (open 'e') fi (open 'i') nut.
It wouldn't be correct nowadays (if it ever was) to pronounce it as finite with de tacked on the front.

closed 'i' as in in.

The occasional poster writes half or more of a page of A4 with no paragraphs and in some cases no punctuation and I can not read it or if I did, it made little sense.

Of instead of have, loose and lose and there and their are all irritating to me.

Why do people write 'could of' instead of 'could have' as in ''you could of phoned me ' instead of 'you could have phoned me '

I thought it was considered poor form to correct spelling and grammar on fora!

To do it personally, yes but this is a discussion.

I've done so much proofreading that any spelling and grammar mistakes are irritating - unless they're clearly typos or accidental.
However, when typing on GN most people are thinking about what they want to say, not about the quality of their English. This is especially true when they are distraught, so perhaps it's best to be a little generous about mistakes.

I'm always fascinated by those, usually new posters, who manage to type a whole page without a paragraph and use lower case i into the bargain!

Why do people write 'could of' instead of 'could have'

The way people pronounce 'could have' make it sound like 'could of'. I believe good spellers are also good readers. Grammar is a mystery to many and I don't think consulting a dictionary/grammar guide is for them. It's like a foreign language - they just don't want to know.

It doesn't bother me if people make a few spelling and grammar mistakes. The main thing is to communicate.
I often make mistakes in writing, there are a few words I can never remember how to spell.
Anyway spelling of the english language is so irregular, ignoring many potential rules.
Gabriella I disagree with your view 100% .

That's fine.
I have always found fennel to be bitter. ??

So my correction of your Potsdammer Place ( Potsdamer Platz ) was justified?
I thought it was but OMG did I get my head bitten off.
Do as I say, not as I do, it seems ???

Some writing is for expressing feelings and other writing is for explaining or instructing.

I'd not want a poem to come out of an Ikea flat pack. Oh wait a minute !

I think as a forum for Grandparents we should focus on the message and not the delivery of the message.

A lot of us unknowingly will make errors, or perhaps not be as good spellers/readers as others. I had to look up what a split infinitive was, then look up infinitive!
Granted, long winded messages with little or no punctuation can be annoying. But I would never assume to correct another person unless I was very close to them.