I just discovered a new blog called ignorethecode.net. Not only is it well-written and interesting, from a tech point of view. It also presents a brilliant solution to an-age old problem with web sites that allow comments.
We’ve all encountered the grammar police from time to time, whether we write our own blogs or just spend time in the forums. It never fails that at least one person will feel it is his or her duty to let the author and other commenters know that several words were misspelled, or the wrong form of a pronoun was used, or an infinitive was split, etc.
There must be some sort of group, like the Gideons, assigning members to every blog and news source on the Internet, spreading the good word and abolishing poor usage.
Anyway, rather than simply accepting these corrections in the comment section, which is usually the only place where these users can vent their frustrations with comma splicing, author Lukas Mathis asks his Strunk and White Witnesses to contact him directly via email or his issue tracker for any grammatical corrections that may be necessary.
This keeps the forums free from these kinds of comments (and the scores of comments spawned from these comments) while not belittling the importance of these contributions in the eyes of his well-meaning users. It’s a perfect solution, because now you’d have to be a complete nimrod to correct his spelling in the comment area. You’d be in essence admitting that you’re only pointing out his errors as a way to pump up your own self-esteem. And you’d be demonstrating your own inability to comprehend the instructions provided.
Foiled by his own compulsions for following the rules. I love it.
Grammar is one of those things that matters A LOT to some people and not at all to others. So best to keep those two groups of people away from one another whenever possible.
This alone convinced me that the author of this blog probably has something of interest to say. I can’t believe I haven’t seen this approach in other places.
