Schpelling [sp?] by tech writers

[KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

<ramble>
I was not one of the people who haughtily informed 
poor Diane of her spelling gaffe, but... 

You knew there had to be a "but" in there, didn't you?

I *am* one of those people who will send you an 
e-mail, telling you about some spelling or grammatical 
problem in your posted text. I'll try to do it with 
humor (humour in Canada...) and tact, but before you 
climb on your exasperated high-horse (poor overused 
animal...) hear me out.

I see no valid reason to point out someone's errors 
in public.  I'd keep it private, and I hope y'all 
would return the favor.

I see no valid reason to even bother with the 
occasional typo.  If I'm CONSISTENTLY making a 
spelling or grammatical error, then I sincerely 
appreciate you pointing it out to me. The only 
times I don't wish to appear professional in my 
writing are when I'm groping for humour (er, humor).

Writing is my trade. It is very much my public face, 
even in private e-mail.  I very much don't want 
people to be able to tell, by looking, that I never 
use a spell-checker or a grammar-checker.  When 
someone points out a typo... well, I guess they 
didn't have much to occupy the empty hours, huh?

But if they point out an error that crops up 
repeatedly -- an error that suggests I have a 
gap in my skills/learning/awareness, rather than 
just a handful of thumbs -- then I consider the 
person a friend for taking the time to privately 
and tactfully let me know.

Walk around with your shirt label sticking up out 
of your collar, or with your fly open, and you'll 
soon learn who your friends are.   :-) 
Further to that, DON'T walk around with your tags 
up or your fly down, if you DON'T wish to find 
out how few friends you actually have... 
Discovering, at 11:30, exactly how embarrassingly 
you've been strolling around all morning, and just 
how few people have been willing to tell you (or 
bothered to notice you) might be information you 
didn't really want, after all.  Ahem!

Ok, let's not go there.

Having said that, I choose to assume that when I 
see a post correcting someone in public, then the 
sender either made an e-mailing error (tsk! shoulda 
just hit "Reply" rather than "Reply to All") or 
is being deliberately condescending.  If you can be 
condescending with style, well go for it. We'll be 
so entertained that we'll forget the victim in our 
admiration of your wit.  I'm not kidding. I've been 
publicly scolded before by someone with such charm 
and razor wit that I was rolling in the aisles with 
the rest of the audience.  But before you assume 
you are up to that standard, it might be wise to 
find a small test audience... and first, check out 
their honesty by walking around with your fly open...

So, where was I?  Oh yeah.  If I screw up once... 
oh, crap.  If I screw up twice... well, double crap. 
Musta been a bad day or that new admin walked by... 
If I screw up three times... oh, crap, this is a trend. 
TELL me about it.  I'll return the favor, privately.

</ramble>

Thanks,

/k