First impressions are important, but do you feel that if it is possible, perhaps one could or should try to over look an initially...questionable one?

Yes. But sometimes it’s hard for me, personally. I really appreciate correct spelling and grammar, unless it’s done, as you often do, in jest or to make a point. If someone online has poor spelling, poor punctuation, uses a lot of text-speak, doesn’t capitalize, etc. I have very little patience.

@Dutch cat; I like you a lot and would make no judgments about saying “a person that” rather than “a person who,” for example, or “off-hand” for “off-handedly” or “in an off-hand way.” Let he who is free from linguistic sin cast the first stone.

Or, should the antecedents of “them” and “they” be plural?

I’m a sentence structure nightmare but all computers that I know of have a spell check feature that all but yells in your face when you type something wrong. When you see a post filled with horrendous misspellings, the person is trying way too hard. Way too hard.

Yup

@SeventhSense AH!!! I asked a Y/N, didn’t I?!! O crap, I’m sorry!!

@VzzBzz—Um, actually, it was a year before wis.dm folks taught me how to download firefox…until then I was completely on my own! I went back to some of my previous questions and I just died at the misspellings!! So—if you don’t know, and don’t have the right stuff downloaded, you may NOT have spellcheck…

@gailcalled—I pm’d you…also…isn’t “a person who” correcter (ha) than “a person that”?—It’s always seemed to me that a person is a “who,” not a “that,”....O wait…I see. In the second instance. Sorry! Correct away! Most of my BFF’s are grammar nuts! And we get a kick out of catching each other! :) Oh, and that’s another good point….“Off hand” is a local saying…I just didn’t even think! You’ll also catch me saying, “Where are you at?”...here are some rocks to stock up with….. ;)

For me, I am completely OK with it if the person is making an effort.

I object when people don’t care enough to try to check their facts or spellings.

Mistakes, typos? Who among us is error-free?

One of my worst habits, when typing..even for school papers, I tend to spell correctly, but use a completely different word than I intentioned. I don’t know why I do it, it’s like my mind is thinking of saying something else, and I type it, but it doesn’t go along with my train of thought…I notice I do that sometimes on fluther as well, and usually try to correct it.

I think, on the internet, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt..but if they seem like an obvious idiot, or troll..then they usually are. Spelling only bothers me when it’s really bad, and text-speak. I don’t mind minor mispellings. I also know I don’t have the best grammar, so I’m more forgiving than others.

When writing a question I often will compose it in word first which not only has spell check but also helps with grammar. I then cut and paste the answer in. It is not perfect but it works for me.

I would encourage anyone who may have felt intimidated to try to post again using either MS Word or a spell check first. In the event that niether are available get a flutherbuddy to proof it for you.

@casheroo…if it’s for a paper that needs to be turned in…..read it aloud to yourself first!...but I bet you know that

@Marina Excellent input…but in the scenario I presented…..what if the person is judged so quickly, and dismissed so quickly that….he doesn’t have the chance to prove that he is trying??

@DutchCat I think from a post in another thread that I read that you are worried about a specific person. If that person posts a question, answer it first and ask people to cut the new person some slack.

@DutchCat: Or the person himself or herself can mention that writing is not his strong point. Or ask you to do some private editing before he sends it along.

I have a good friend with an advanced degree in computer science.She has a business called “The Computer Tutor.” She married a local man who is almost illiterate but can ID trees from their bark, can build beautiful structures and is loving and kind…not stupid but dyslexic. They are happy together.

Sure

I know it’s hard, but sometimes people may hate to withstand the scrutiny of first impressions in order to persevere and become known. If one is so thin-skinned as to run at the first criticism, it shows an equally inappropriate first impression.

We are not all spelling Nazis. We do not get all medieval on your ass because of grammar problems. Some of us appreciate ideas, even if they are hard to extract from their wrapping. Don’t judge a website by it’s grammarians. Although, there is a rule around here about good spelling, and a bad speller might find a lot of his or her posts deleted for that reason.

First impressions work both ways. Everyone should take a chill pill, and back off a bit. We don’t need barking cerberuses at our door.

Certainly.. I’m well familiar with the fact that my first impressions of people are almost always wrong. If I always went on first impressions, I wouldn’t have any friends!