Pedantic Moi !

Probably doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it does irritate me I must admit. ??

Yes I 'm afraid it still matters but as long as posts are comprehensible, GN is very forgiving!
Far more irritating are the posts where nit-picking pendants pick up every mistake, whether minute or massive.

I think it all depends on the medium you are writing for.

When I do a class and have to write an essay I will be very careful about spelling and punctuation and check and double check and triple check and then ask DH to reread it. I also do occasional editorial work, but get a proof reader to check it because I know proof reading is not one of my top skills.

But when I am writing emails or posts on Gransnet, it is much more like dashing off a quick note to a friend to push through the letter box when they are not in. You do your best, write quickly, quickly read it through and then it is away through the letterbox/email. I always notice the mistakes in my GN posts when I reread them after posting, which is of course, too late. Then there are the mistakes introduced by technology, predictive text, tiny screens on phones that make seeing more than a few lines of a post at a time.

I also have a problem with limited feeling in most of the fingers of my right hand as the result of a not entirely successful carpal tunnel operation. This leads to keys not being pressed hard enough, or remaining too long on a letter so that it repeats.

I am very forgiving of the little misspellings, punctuation faux pas and grammatical hiccups. but, I confess, what sets my teeth on edge is long screeds without capital letters, paragraphs, and very limited punctuation that makes the posts very difficult to read and makes sense of.

Dont post on Gransnet unless you are absolutely certain about your spelling. There is one poster who takes an absolute delight in correcting everything, no matter how minor.

Missed apostrophe - waiting to be told off.

I think it matters, and Pedant's Corner on Gransnet soothes my soul when I get rage.

I try not to let it irritate me as sometimes I post without my glasses on and autocorrect takes over.

I would never correct another's grammatical errors on here, but I often pull my AC up (I have the feeling they say/spell things wrong to wind me up??) and I always correct the GC in a nice way.

I am also very aware that we have not all had the same experience of education, so I would never intentionally want to humiliate another person.

I do not think that misspellings or punctuation faux pas have anything to do with education levels. I suspect most GN members are quite capable of spelling words correctly and correctly punctuating but it is along way from brain to fingers and if you are not a trained touch typist, all sorts of errors creep in and if rapid proof reading is not your forte, then errors get through

It never occurs to me to make any kind of judgement about posters just because there are a few typos in their posts. I certainly do not suppose it is anything else but a typo. I

I am now beginning to understand why some posters type little secondary posts to dot their is and cross their ts. Actually it is the correction posts I find so irritating. Unless the mistake changes the meaning of the post or makes in incomprehensible, don't bother.

I agree about the long posts MOnica especially when there are no paragraphs and lots of abbreviations. I lose the will to make sense of it.
In the grand scheme of things I suppose spelling and punctuation etc are not important but I do find the errors irritating.

I don't like to be too pedantic or unkind about people's posts but, as others have said, no paragraphs can make posts exhausting to read. If there are too many errors, it can cause confusion. I prefer clearly written posts.

Irritates me too. Hubby calls me the Grammar Nazi

Ditto to long posts with no paragraphs! So hard to read, I don't usually bother.,

I must admit that basic mistakes do make me despair at our schools, when so many people muddle there/their, your/you're, etc. I know some are down to blasted autocorrect, but surely not all.

These things are really not at all difficult to sort out.
But there is a pervasive attitude that they don't matter any more, and only fusty, pernickety old pedants give a toss.

Which simply isn't true. For a start I know of one much younger, very non-fusty person in a senior HR position, who told me that one way of weeding out a mass of very similar CVs, is to bin any with basic spelling/grammatical mistakes. And I don't suppose she's the only one. Spellcheck is all very well, but it can't be relied on to pick up everything.

For a while a dd taught English as a foreign language overseas, as I had before, and she told me of how mortified she was for a fellow teacher who'd made some basic mistake on the whiteboard - it's/its, your/you're - I can't remember, but something of the sort.

Some of that teacher's students had come to dd very worried, because they thought it was wrong, but didn't like to say anything! And were therefore worried as to whether they'd got it all wrong - because surely a teacher wouldn't make such mistakes?

Since it evidently wasn't the first time, dd was frankly shocked that the teacher in question should have gained a TEFL qualification at all.

Presumably he was from the 'these things don't matter any more' school, but these students, who were paying good money for their lessons, were going to need to pass exams, where they'd lose marks for such mistakes.

I'm fussy about my own posts and nearly always preview them before I click on 'post'. I can cope with other posts that have a few mistakes but, like others, don't enjoy long winded posts with no punctuation etc.
Now to preview this - just in case!

Foreign students are far more particular about their use of grammar, because it is taught much more stringently in their native countries.
Many of the mistakes on here are simply the result of carelessness in the desire to post quickly, and I appreciate the corrections that appear underneath the original post, because they show that the writer does care.

I will post a correction if I've made an error or my post has a typo. I do it to prove I'm not so dim that I can't see the error.
Text "speak" annoys me, not much of it on GN but on some other forums it's rife.

Posters probably put up corrections as they don’t want to be ridiculed by the grammar nazies. I am amazed that some people expend so much negative emotion on what they perceive as others inadequacies and are intent on causing maximum humiliation. Why would you want to do that to another human being?

It is a classic example of not seeing the wood for the trees. It doesn't matter what rubbish you write as long as spelling grammar and punctuation are perfect. Write a long thoughtful and considered post that takes forward the discussion on any particular thread, but contains a few typos or punctuation errors and your post will be dismissed out of hand.

If people like that consider me dim because of a few typos, (and there are always are typos in my posts because I am a lousy proof reader). I will bear my dimness with pride.

I always thought that it is considered extremely bad mannered to point out spelling and/or grammatical mistakes in other people's posts. In any case, I really don't think it's a serious problem on sites such as this unless the mistakes obscure the meaning.

As far as apostrophes are concerned I have always liked this memorable example.

"Those things over there are my husband's" as opposed to "Those things over there are my husbands".

One of the things I like about GN is that most people on here have good grammar and spelling. I would never have the audacity to correct anyone's mistakes though. Think that is so rude! When I was in school we had grammar lessons which I loved. I see a real decline in people's English nowadays which is a terrible shame, so yes I really think it's very important that we don't let standards slip.

Spelling mistakes or grammatical mistakes matter if they make the meaning of what we write unclear, or worse, the opposite of what we meant. This doesn't happen all that often though.

I think mistakes are annoying to those of us who were taught grammar and spelling properly, if or when we notice them, but often I tend to read what someone meant even if there are mistakes.

I love your apostrophe example Absent.

Yes that's just right grandetante exactly how I feel.

It may not be the most important aspect of writing but I think it shows respect for the reader to spend some time choosing the correct grammar and spelling. They are intended to facilitate the message and get the meaning across smoothly. (I do get irritated by rogue apostrophes on signs.)

I think most of try to be correct with spelling & grammar when posting on here, makes for easier reading. I don't like lots of abbreviations or txt speak but errors can and do occur in our haste to reply, it is so easy to hit the post button instead of preview. I think it is inconsiderate to try to make someone feel embarrassed for the odd mistake.

absent: I liked your example, not come across that before. Would any of us really be able to cope with more than one at a time?