Message Punctuation and Formatting — Website Upgrades and Opinions on True Nudists

Mr. EOriginal Poster

Oct 28, 2019

I saw a users profile that said that she only wanted friends who knew how to use an apostrophe. Seriously, it was in her profile.

I was going to message (not the chat room, but the message button on the profile) her because there was something else that interested me, and I realized that she wouldnt like my message. Why was I sure? Because all apostrophes and quotation marks get stripped out by the messaging ap. Also, carriage returns get taken out, so if you do any paragraph breaks, forget it.

Could we mark this down as something to fix in the next revamp of the site?

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Bairskyn
Oct 28, 2019
I'd like to second desnudez's motion. This site's mistreatment of punctuation isn't just aggravating; it's a hindrance to understanding, and therefore's at cross-purpose to the very communication it's intended to enable. (Okay, that's perhaps a bit overdramatic, but I'd hope it's helped reinforce desnudez's point.) (And yes, I've intentionally over-used apostrophes in this note, but only to emphasize that they have their place.)
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Kevin
Oct 28, 2019
I would like to 2nd that motion. I continually have to re-read and re-write messages and edit forum posts due to these issues. It causes me to take a lot of additional time and always leaves me with the concern of posts and messages being incorrect, looking sloppy, or possibly even misleading...
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Trevor
Oct 29, 2019
In the meantime, can someone set the system to include short videos of Victor Borge's phonetic punctuation?
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noodengr2
Oct 29, 2019
As a writer I try to use proper grammar but have noticed that it is in vane here
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nakedTexans
Oct 29, 2019
vane??? I hope that was intended! If not that's ok. I knew what you mint.
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ManOfWicklow
Oct 29, 2019
I thinc spelin and proppar gramma is importaint and yu shud allwais tri tu oose it.
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Bryant
Oct 29, 2019
[quote]I'd like to second desnudez's motion. This site's mistreatment of punctuation isn't just aggravating; it's a hindrance to understanding, and therefore's at cross-purpose to the very communication it's intended to enable. (Okay, that's perhaps a bit overdramatic, but I'd hope it's helped reinforce desnudez's point.) (And yes, I've intentionally over-used apostrophes in this note, but only to emphasize that they have their place.)[/quote] All the apostrophes were in the correct place in my reading of the message. I am using Window's ten and Google Chrome.
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ME
Mr. EOriginal Poster
Oct 29, 2019
[quote|All the apostrophes were in the correct place in my reading of the message. I am using Window's ten and Google Chrome.[/quote]

Hmm...hes right, they do show up. Im currently using an iPad but I had this problem on a Windows machine too and it seems to be common.
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Berky
Oct 29, 2019
I'll freely admit I'm not the best writer in the world, but I do try to use correct punctuation, grammar, and formatting. When I used to be on the Church Board of the church I used to attend I was the one who had to take down the Minutes of every meeting. There was this one @#$%^$#@ guy who CONSTANTLY nitpicked EVERYTHING I wrote. It got so bad one night at the board meeting that one of the members came to my rescue and shut him down. What was ironic is the gentleman who saved me has a was a former college president. He told me later, I'm doing just fine!
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Bairskyn
Oct 29, 2019
People who take meeting minutes in a volunteer setting (a thankless task!) should be given wide latitude with respect to grammar and punctuation. I'd bet that he who criticized would *not* want to assume the task of minute-taker. (And if he would be willing to take on the role, by all means let him.) OTOH the issue the OP raised -- a messaging tool that systematically converts good punctuation to bad -- is something else again. Far from the biggest issue in the world, but still worth raising IMO.
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Al
Oct 29, 2019
I read complaints that nudism is dying, we don't get new folks interested in social nudism. And then we complain that our fellow nudists don't present themselves well in print. So many people for whom English is a second or third language, or who have a reading disability or a lousy education might one day express some interest in nudism. And they might want to pose a question or make a comment.
But we will put them in their place, and they can disappear in embarrassment.

I love precision in language and spent much of my career writing journal articles and guiding graduate theses. I appreciate grammar. But I live in a community with a big billboard advertising "Blueberry's for sale.". And you know what? I buy the blueberries, they're delicious. Sometimes our folks who can't spell or use punctuation correctly have something delicious to offer. So when I can I wade through with as little condemnatory judgment as I can manage.
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Tim
Oct 30, 2019
[quote]vane??? I hope that was intended! If not that's ok. I knew what you mint.[/quote] Well done!
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Al
Nov 4, 2019
I was reading a blog post today about albezia wood as an invasive species in Hawaii, but which can be used for canoe-building. The writer was really knowledgeable about the topic, but used apostrophes galore when he was creating plurals. The blog administrator added an exasperated note after the lengthy post which read:
"PSA from the Writers Guild of America: Remember! Every time you use an apostrophe to mark a plural ( 's) a kitten dies."
So unless you hate cats, I guess it pays to use apostrophes correctly. But, I would never have learned about the plant's possible usefulness without the post, so content surpasses grammar once again.
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