No offense, but you sound like my dad when I was first learning to write; he used to tell me that I should never need to erase becaues I should take my time and form my letters perfectly the first time. Unfortunately, I wasn't a robot then, and I'm still not now. I still make tons of mistakes when typing up posts that I don't catch in the preview screen (And yes, I still have mistakes that slip through on me, even though I average 3-4 previews per node.)
I think it is arrogant to force root-node authors to "be perfect the first time." Nodes aren't doctoral disertations, and node readers are not English proffessors. While you may type up "The Perfect Node" each and every time, I usually appreciate the fact that PM is not usenet, and I can fix my typos when I notice them after submission. I would especially appreciate the ability to do this anywhere on the site.
Update: For instance, I accididentally hit submit before I realized that I forgot to add the HTML to split this node into 2 paragraphs. It happens.
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I do not agree. I think that any monk should be able to edit his or her node for style, faux pas and grammatical errors. This is especially true for monks that don't speak English natively. Nobody wants to look like a retard, or to make a serious semantic gaffe. Things get lost (or added :-) ) in the mental working of cultural adaptation.
All natively English-speaking monks, try the following experiment: try to write a thoughtful node in French or Spanish (or in your other second language). How long does it take? After many previews, are you finally cerain about the wording? Do you have any acute feeling that your struggle has nothing to do with Perl at all?
Therefore, tye++, PodMaster-- (Take my downvote as a statement)
Update: Some clarification, some addition. See below.
To allolex: I meant "preview" metaphorically, not literally. Like most people here (I believe), I do type my post in my favourite text editor, then paste it at use the "preview" button only to check if the PerlMonks engine renders my markup as I intended. I agree with the other points of your reply.
My main social reason for concern is that I believe that trying to put purely technical barriers against social problems does more harm than good. Instead of an "entrenched", static, indiscriminate defense against abuse, I would choose a dynamic, feedback based one.
My main personal reason for concern is that I have a tendency to dramatize, to overdo my prose, to use lofty constructs beyond my command of the English language, instead of just Keeping It Simple, Stupid. I know it'll bite back hard some day, but I just can't help myself! Oh, vanity! :-) | [reply] |
Although I agree with your basic statement that no one wants to make mistakes in their posts, I also think the monks are very understanding where grammatical errors are concerned.
People who speak English as a second or foreign language would have less trouble with their spelling and grammar if they do what I do for all my major posts. Actually, even native speakers can benefit from it. It occurred to me some time ago that the little text window in a browser is a horrible way to edit something that is longer than a few lines, so I don't. I use my favorite editor or word processor to edit my ``major'' nodes and then copy and paste. If I am having a bad day, it will catch my spelling mistakes. Some people even have ``grammar checking'' in their word processors.
Another advantage to this method is that it reduces the server load from constant previewing (and maybe editing in the future). It would also allow the poster's struggle to focus (almost) completely on Perl ;)
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You can preview a node a thousand times, it will only catch spelling and grammar mistakes. But sometimes you want to
- add some info, you forgot
- correct some code you posted
- state that you didn't do something the repliers assume
and a reply at the bottom is not the best way...
PS: I speak for Seekers of Perl Wisdom
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