Dyslexia Disclaimer
For the TL-DR People Among us:
No grammar or spelling policing allowed on our platform(s).
One of the (main) authors/publishers is dyslectic, makes quite an effort to publish good, readable, informative, useful and entertaining posts, but do keep in mind that there is a very likely probability that you will find spelling and grammar errors here and there. If ‘perfect spelling and grammar’ is more important to you than the actual ‘content value/contents’ itself, then you are at ‘the wrong place of the internet’ 😉
As you might have read in my/our Community Guidelines there is a ‘no “grammar police” policy’ on my/our platform. There is a ‘more known term’ for this kind of behavior which is “less politically correct” and I guess most of you know what I mean here.
There are a few reasons why I/we don’t allow this “spelling and grammar policing” by others on the platform(s). One of this reasons is that I (Rico), the ‘main writer/publisher’ on this platform, am (quite severely) dyslectic, and it just ‘bugs the crap out of me when I’ve spend a lot of time on writing an helpful article for others/you, and you then post a comment with nothing but:
Me: I’m dislectic but will do my best explaining you what you’re looking for.
Your comment: *Dyslectic
I love to write articles, explaining stuff, telling stories etc. Hell, often I even take joy out of writing those boring datasheets! Just “in the hopes” that the information which I’ve put in there will help someone or teach them something, even if it’s just one small thing. I use a lot of plugins, tools and software which will aid as much as possible in ‘correcting’ my spelling and grammar errors.
Now and then I will ask one of the people on my team to proofread something (when there is time for it), but often I will also publish works which might (well just assume will) contain either spelling or grammar errors (or even both). For me personally the ‘primary importance’ isn’t that it is 100% spelling and grammatically correct, but that you’ve actually learned something from the publication, or that you it at-least enjoyed reading it (when it’s “just a regular blog post” for example).
And if it really is such a big problem for you (as in that it truly ‘upsets you‘) and that you get so frustrated about spelling and grammar errors that you either ‘freak out‘ or that you just “have to comment”…. them please just don’t even read the content and just don’t join the platform at all 😉
I do understand that there are complete “language fanatics” out there, to whom ‘perfect spelling and grammar’ is their ‘entire world’, and if you’re one of them: you have all right to be. However, if that’s the case, then I would unfortunately have to tell you that my/our platform isn’t the right place on the internet for you, sorry.
Dyslexia not the only reason ‘grammar police people’ bug me
The Dyslexia however isn’t the only reason that ‘spelling/grammar policing people’ “bug me”. One of the other reasons is that I personally (just like many others) just find it quite rude and disrespectful when people start ‘grammar policing’ and then often even ‘start a whole topic/flame war’ in the comments section due to it. This doesn’t only takeaway the attention of the actual publication (which tried to help others), but also introduces a bad and unwelcome vibe in the community for other users.
Then there’s also the point that many people whom post and comment in English, often aren’t even speaking English natively. So those people then get ‘attacked online’ by (often) natively English speaking people on small spelling or grammar mistakes, while the ‘non-native-English-user’ actually adapted to you and your language.
Technical Information
Obviously I make tremendous efforts in ensuring that published data, posts, articles and documentation like datasheets contains a minimum amount of (spelling and grammar) errors, however for me it’s nearly impossible to ‘produce a flawless document’ (and I am aware of this already). Where it’s absolutely crucial that the text is ‘presented correctly’ (for example where it is about technical information, specifications, case-sensitive text and more of the alike), I will take even more time to ensure that the “posted context” is correctly presented. If you however have spotted a mistake and it is quite obvious to you that I’ve made a spelling/grammar mistake, then just ignore it and go with your ‘guess’ on what I meant to say/type. If it’s in regards of ‘super-duper-critical-stuff’ then just double check with external sources if you’re not sure that I’ve made an (spelling/grammar) mistake.
The content ‘value’ is worth more to me than correct spelling and grammar
Well like the title of this paragraph already stated, and like I’ve basically already explained a bit above; To me it is much more important that the ‘content value’ (either educational, informative or entertainment) is good, than that the spelling and grammar are 100% perfect. If you understood what was meant in the publication or documentation, then I’m happy with the result(s). So that is what truly matters to me. I’m not here to “win a Spelling Bee” (Nor will I ever 😂).
But someone is seriously commenting in a completely r*tarded way, and I can’t understand a sh*t of what he said!
Whoa! Hold your horses! Take a chill pill!…. and just let that comment pass then 😉 I do know that there are sometimes comments, reply’s or even legitimate questions in ‘some half baked English’ which doesn’t even classify as Dyslexia anymore. However do keep in mind that there are still many other country’s where English is not a major at school, or where they don’t even teach (decent) English at all! Those people are often also just ‘trying to get along’ on the internet by learning it on their own.
If you “can’t handle” such comments, reply’s or questions: IGNORE them. It’s for your own (and their) best interest to just ignore these comments. If you can handle such comments, then just politely try to figure out what they are trying to say or ask.
Dyslexia is not an excuse to avoid certain keyboard letters
Then there is ‘the standard lazy group’ whom is just to lazy to use their entire keyboard by only typing in abbreviations. Often they are ‘so smart’ by thinking they are a saving ‘a lot of time’ by skipping “hundreds of letters” per paragraph, but while being so “smart” they actually don’t realize that they’re waste (much) more time by having to explain to others what they actually meant to say. Plus to me personally (and a few others I know/work with) it just seems like you are completely uninterested. So YES. I/we DO allow when people ‘police’ (in a POLITE way!) on such behavior.
But I really tried to ‘correct’ an important mistake in the text!
Well that’s the key here, if it is indeed important/crucial that the mistake will be corrected, then you can ‘offer your help‘ by pointing out the mistake. But when it’s just some minor spelling or grammar error(s): No thanks, I know I’m terrible with spelling and grammar 😉
Platform Ban for spelling/grammar policing
Due to the fact that it just takes up time when I would have to keep moderating ‘grammar police’, the fact that these ‘extra grammar comments’ just take up another few useless database bytes, and that I/we don’t like to ‘feed the trolls’, I will be quite strict and thus also “quite quickly” ban users (completely) when they are ‘grammar policing’ to levels where it becomes annoying to either me or other users.
Basic rule is: No spelling or grammar policing allowed on the platform(s) and within our community.
NOTE: Do note that IF you get banned, that you will lose ALL access to the platform, and in the event of a ban: I don’t care if you’re a Patreon or not! I want to keep this platform a fun, happy and welcome place for everyone, including all other users, (other) Patreons and obviously myself.
Last Updated: 14-03-2022