I give Shoe shit all the time about his piss poor grammar and spelling. Often times I just login and correct what I can. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood. I strive for perfection in my writing, with both grammar and spelling. I understand Shoe’s view that the message is more important than the technical aspects of the writing. Here’s the thing though: why compromise your message in any way?
Whenever I read a confrontational or argumentative e-mail or blog post that has grammar mistakes, I literally disregard the message because the writer didn’t even bother to make their point flawlessly. Why should I care about your message if you’re not going to put in the effort to spell correctly, and use proper language.
As a blog writer, content is king. You’ll probably keep 80% of your readers, or new readers with great content even if it’s riddled with mistakes. But what if 20%, or even 10% of your readers go away because bad grammar bothers them so much? Why give up even 1 single reader because you’re too lazy to use good grammar? Losing a reader because they don’t agree with you is one thing. Losing them because you refuse to spell check is insane to me.
Then again…no one reads my blog.. maybe I shud stop spelling well.
January 27th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
“maybe I shud stop spelling well.”
^ Is that error intentional?
January 27th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Personally I think it highly depends on your blog. Shoe’s made it pretty clear he’s not concerned with spelling and others strive to get rid of any and all errors. In the end it comes down to how you want to write and what readers expect and mixing the two.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Bad spellers need role models too, and don’t forget the SEO benefits of targeting all those misspellings that no one else is grabbing. I have a hunch that’s where most of Shoe’s traffic comes from.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
awww.. we luvs ya dave. (all 8 of us bloglines subscribers..)
nah. srsly. i agree with you.
the flow of good blogging is to make it seem casual. while being a hard-ass about the little things. it needs to be clean, and professional, without basic mistakes.
especially if it is a platform for things like the elite retreat.
the thing i luv, is the idea that shoe can still get better. he kicks everyone’s ass. and yet, he can still get better. that is a little scary.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:20 am
It’s not true that no one reads your blog.
By the way, I often use this algorithm:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/strikeout/
which is why you should keep fighting the good fight for spelling and grammar.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:02 am
i disregarded your message after i got to the following sentence:
“I literally disregard the message because the writer didn’t even both to make their point flawlessly.” (emphasis mine)
sorry, couldn’t resist
January 28th, 2008 at 1:19 am
touché. fixed.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:46 am
And I got as far as… “You’ll probably keep 80% of your readers, or new readers with great content even if its riddled with mistakes.”
January 28th, 2008 at 9:51 am
O.K., so now I feel guilty about all of the poorly written things I have put on Matt’s blog.
Matt, maybe you could have Dave D. here get in and install a script on your server that would allow us to be able to edit our comments on your site.
I am sure Dave would not cause any mischief while having access to your server, right Dave?
Smiles to all,
dk
January 28th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I concur Dave. As a bit of a spelling/grammar Nazi, I have very little tolerance for inaccuracies. One or two in a random post can be forgiven, but a pattern of sloppiness typically indicates that the author is either unintelligent and/or lazy.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:52 am
It depends on the market for me. If I was doing business with them or buying something from them, I would expect proper grammar and spelling. If it’s just entertainment, then I’m not so picky. Shoe is between. It bugged me a couple years ago with Shoemoney but now it’s part of the personality package.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
That’s fantastic Matt.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I would like to stress that the Strike Out algorithm calls for a white out procedure on gratuitous obscenities.
January 28th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
I couldn’t agree more, Dave. Many a time I have had a little less respect for a blog writer’s opinion after reading all the typo’s and poor grammar.
Btw, you may not have many people reading your blog, but I can tell you that you have at least one person that enjoys when you make a post.
Kevin
January 28th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
bah spelling and grammar police are like accounting bean counters …
January 29th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Hilarious. A rant about bad grammar from someone whose grammar and spelling are well below 5th grade level. Keep it up, champ.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
It’s a matter of style, Shoe made it his signature style somehow to spell poorly, not everyone can get away with that…
Other than that: search algorithms are all about quality these days, how long will it take for search engines to use grammar and spelling checkers on content, and assigning a low “quality score” to poorly written text?
January 30th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I read your blog all the time brother! keep up the good work
January 30th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
You no I totally aegree witH you on thes one Bobby. Grammers is sew very impartant theeese days and I think it has a lot tew dew with lack of edukation as to why these peoples are macking errors in there blogs. But aneway, good poent sir. Poent taken.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:35 am
Dave
I completely agree with you on this issue. While I respect Jeremy’s success in the industry, I tend to totally discount the message if it has grammar and spelling mistakes in it.
Not to mention that it’s just plain annoying to read. I would venture to say that I would probably read all his posts, regardless of the subject, if his writing was up to scratch.
Right now, I only read the post if I think the benefit will outweigh the annoyance.
And yes, people do read your blog.
February 4th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I think you mean “may bee I shud stopp speling good.”
You know my stance on proper spelling and grammar. Shoe’s blog is like a knife in my heart. If I had nothing else to do, I’d totally compulsively spend the entire day correcting all of his past posts. I’m happy to hear that I know at least one other person out there who’s a grammar/spelling hound like I am.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:01 am
[...] Releases discussed on the show is on its way and will be “Released” here in a few days. David Dellanave’s blog with Matt (black hats rule) Cutts’ comments about grammar are now requiring much more time [...]
February 12th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Oh yeah, there’s even that French guy reading you and trying to improve on his English… Thanks for all the proper grammar and spelling! :))
February 25th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
There really is someone out there that cares about proper grammar and spelling. Incorrect spelling and grammar is annoying. When I read messages with incorrect spelling, I delete the message. If the sender doesn’t care about their presentation, I don’t care.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 am
That’s great to hear, i thought I was the only one puzzled by Shoe’s complete lack of interest in even basic grammar and spell-checking, but you have to deal with it every day!