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Should grammar be protected from abuse?

kochoupink

butts lol
Here in the SPPf Debate Forum, we discuss all sorts of abuses and abusers: from the London Riots to gay marriage, from a(nti)theism to the hilariously pseudofactual cesspool that is global warming thread, strong ethical questions of "should we?" are posed, answered, discarded, and answered again, with more condescension.

In the spirit of this, our noble subforum, I present to you a discussion about the voiceless mass that is kicked around, misused, and maligned each day on this v. forum. Already you are mentally listing the candidates: homosexuals, homophobes, atheists, Christians, Muslims, Democrats, Republicans, BigLutz, Australians(?), &c.

None of these, however, are correct. They all have voices. Some of them have quite loud voices. No. Today, I, like the Lorax, speak for those who stand silent; I am kochoupink, and I speak for the apostrophes (and all other forms and marks of grammar and punctuation).

In my tenure on this forum, I've seen many attempts to defend spelling/grammar foibles (some of which are so ghastly as to alter the meaning of the original post) with some version of the following:
"Well its just an internet forum, so who care's?"

I. Care. You should, too. Would you make a thread arguing against the existence of laws? Do you claim that the world would be better in a state of nature, as we are witnessing in the London riots? If so, if you are truly a hardened anarchist who believes that people should be allowed to rape, pillage, murder at will, then I give you full permission to not care about grammar.

For the rest of us (those of us with any social conscience, or indeed, any individual conscience at all), please consider the following:
Language is a verbal expression and, indeed, symbol of our society. Language changes the way societies interact (for some discussion of this, see Noam Chomsky's views on Linguistic Determinism, or George Orwell's treaties on Newspeak). Just as societies have laws to protect their citizens, so too do languages have laws to protect their meanings. A single misplaced comma, apostrophe, or homophone can completely change the meaning of a sentence, as I have demonstrated to several of you with pictures.

A language without grammar is an invitation to deliberate misreadings, to false accusations, and to linguistic anarchy. Ignoring grammar weakens your points by weakening your language itself. If you abuse grammar, you are a criminal of thought.

Some forums have taken to monitoring grammar, and will not allow grammatical errors (typos excluded: this thread is not about typos, which are forgivable) to be posted. I have seen them, and overall I am impressed with the quality of the remaining posts. By protecting the rights of grammar, they have raised the value of their forum.

Of course, I wouldn't propose anything so radical for this bastion of civilization, but as an academic discussion, it has merit. So my question is this:

Should good grammar be protected and celebrated? Should those who use bad grammar (and spelling, which we will consider as falling under its purview) be censured in some form?

Please note, Profesco, that this is not a satire thread. I am dead serious. This argument has infinitely more merit than many being debated, and it deserves to get proper attention.
 
Grammar shouldnt be worried about. I was the creator of the gay marriage one, and l didnt read all the posts, and some of the grammar and language was poor, but some people just dont care sadly.
 

Mr. Reloaded

Cause a pirate is free
Nope because this is the interenet were grammar is not need to be perfect
Plus the threads here have poor grammar.
 

kochoupink

butts lol
I really like this new thing where I win a debate without ever even having to post. Don't you, derkins?
 

Bianca~

Almost Never Online.
I do think that all of us should strive to use the best grammar that we can. In these forums, I have seen posts constructed in such a poor way that they were rendered incomprehensible. The Debate Forum already has enough problems to deal with; grammar should not be one of them.

I'm not sure if censuring is the correct way to deal with this, though. Sure, if the post is not understandable, then it should be condemned, but even the best of us make mistakes occasionally, and a simple one should not effect an altercation that could turn the thread into a fiasco.

Perhaps the continuous misuse of the English language could be punished in the Debate Forum, but, seeing as there are many kids on these forums, that would probably turn out badly. It could definitely be emphasized that good grammar is expected of all members, though - at least in the Debate Forum.
 

Cassiopeia

No more massacres.
We must use the rules of grammar to come across as being intelligent. I cannot debate with someone who types like a seven year old. Standards still exist on a Pokémon forum, everyone. Grammar should not be banned.
 

Mystica

Thrill Seeker
I can understand one who speaks/writes English as a second language. There's also the fact that we make mistakes and typos from time to time; it happens. I don't think you should be so lax on your grammar, that you people have a hard time digesting your argument/points.

It certainly isn't helpful either when there's people who are on something semi-serious such as a debate board (or otherwise) and think it's cute to add a 'Wapanese' term/phrase at the end of every post. I find it to be an insult to the topic at hand. Perhaps I'm taking this a tad serious? Probably.

I personally can't understand it since I rarely use chat-speak, and I check my posts multiple times before submitting it. I realize not everyone does this, but it really would help to make sure your post is as clear and concise as possible to prevent misinterpretations. But then again, looking at the literacy rate in the US...*cringes*
As for bad grammar being censored...I think that shouldn't really be messed with. Besides, how can you monitor such a thing?

Whoops, that was longer than I intended. XD
 

Malanu

Est sularus oth mith
Koch if this were a forum for adults I would say you have more to be concerned with. However this is a children's forum and many counties also visit here. So who's Grammar do you suggest we enforce? then there is the grammar of chatspeak and L33t. You are bringing up a topic that is far more volatile that you think.
 
The human language is a constantly evolving creature. What stands as good grammar today may not necessarily be the case the following day.
 

Ivanka

Freeeeeeeeee
People just don't want to use good grammar. It's a shame but there's nothing that you could do about that, considering it's the majority of people. It does also seem a little extreme to pick on that of all things.
 

Bianca~

Almost Never Online.
As for bad grammar being censored...I think that shouldn't really be messed with. Besides, how can you monitor such a thing?

Actually, she suggested "censuring" rather than "censoring". The latter would probably be very tough to pull off considering how active our forums are, but the former could definitely serve a purpose when incomprehensible posts come about in the Debate Forum.
 

Manafi's Dream

フェアリータイプタイム
Actually, she suggested "censuring" rather than "censoring". The latter would probably be very tough to pull off considering how active our forums are, but the former could definitely serve a purpose when incomprehensible posts come about in the Debate Forum.

It would be an incredibly big task. Those poor mods...

I, for one, have a mini heart attack when I quote someone and all the red lies pop up in the text box. Grammar is a necessity, people. We are slowly murdering the English language. It's as if the rules of grammar are slowly disintegrating into oblivion! :p
 

Grei

not the color
Absolutely not, I come to these forums to escape adults like you trying to run everything!

I'm sorry but I cannot stand ideas like this.

You can't stand intelligence? I'm sorry, but I can't stand it when people think that grammar is something that isn't important. Our society's grammar is going down the toilet with idiotic chatspeak and stupid people not receiving a proper education. While chatspeak and smilies and things like that can be used over the internet to more accurately display the writer's feelings and intentions, it shouldn't be the dominant form of communication. That's a sick idea.

Monitoring grammar would not be a bad thing. And kochoupink isn't running everything, she's sparking a debate. Calm down.

Nope because this is the interenet were grammar is not need to be perfect
Plus the threads here have poor grammar.

This post is the epitome of any and every reason for why grammar should be protected.

Thebattlefornteirash, you aren't the first to say this, and you certainly won't be the last, so don't think I'm just directing this at you. "This is the internet, so grammar doesn't need to be perfect" is perhaps the stupidest reason I have ever read in regards to why grammar shouldn't be proper. Just because you're on the internet, and on a forum, does not mean that it's somehow OK to type like a moron. On a forum, how you type out letters, words, and sentences is often a reflection on your intelligence, since the other users have nothing else of which to base their perceptions of you. Typing with poor grammar and spelling translates as "I'm an idiot," to be perfectly frank.

Over the internet, where everything is text and pictures and the meaning of those things are entirely based on the viewer, making one's message even more incomprehensible is the last thing anyone should be doing.
 
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PokemonLeagueChamp

Team Aero Leader
More often than not the people that are making posts in these debates littered with grammatical errors end up contributing little to nothing to the debate, making a point without defending it or just saying "IM RITE UR WRONG DURR HURR." You start figuring that out pretty quick around here. The people that actually have anything to contribute usually have comprehensible grammar, so there's no reason to make a big deal about it.
 
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