Masturbate is Spelled With a U
Writing is something you should have learned in school. I'm not suggesting that everyone should be capable of writing a novel, that is an art, but knowing the difference between there, their and they're -- for example -- is not. Anyone with a moderate level of intelligence should know how to spell, use punctuation and proper grammar and if they don't, I have to assume they either aren't too bright, didn't pay attention in school or are just plain lazy. Right or wrong, I tend to base my opinion of their professionalism on how they write an email, an ICQ message, webpage, blog or post on a message board.
First impressions mean a lot in business and if I meet you in person and you're dressed like a slob, have poor communication skills and don't look me in the eye when you're talking to me, I make some immediate assessments about your character, intelligence level and business sense. Those may not necessarily be completely accurate, but, taken as a whole, my assessment of you and whether you're someone I'm interested in doing business with will largely be affected by my first impressions and I'm usually pretty accurate when I rely on my gut instincts.
Those of us that work in the adult industry often don't meet many of the people we do business with face-to-face so we have to base our impressions on other things. When I read a post on a message board or an email and it's filled with typos, uses little or no punctuation and has the grammatical style of a third grader, I am going to immediately form an impression about the person that wrote it and it won't be good. At the very least I'll assume they're lazy. How hard is it to write something in a word processor that has a built in spell checker, copy it and then paste it into a post on a message board? I'm probably more anal about this than others and reread all of my posts before I hit the 'post' button and then read it again once it's posted, frequently using the 'edit' command to fix something I missed the first time.
I think something that is pervasive in this industry -- and more so than in others -- is a lack of professionalism. It doesn't take a college education to make money with adult websites and in many cases, it doesn't require the website owner to do business with others, but for those of you that hope to develop business relationships with others in this industry to further your success, please, take a little time to read over your posts or emails before you send them and for goodness sake, bookmark Dictionary.com and look a word up if you're unsure how to spell it.
Note: I realize that this is the World Wide Web and that means there are many for whom English is not their first language, and in those cases I always make allowances.
First impressions mean a lot in business and if I meet you in person and you're dressed like a slob, have poor communication skills and don't look me in the eye when you're talking to me, I make some immediate assessments about your character, intelligence level and business sense. Those may not necessarily be completely accurate, but, taken as a whole, my assessment of you and whether you're someone I'm interested in doing business with will largely be affected by my first impressions and I'm usually pretty accurate when I rely on my gut instincts.
Those of us that work in the adult industry often don't meet many of the people we do business with face-to-face so we have to base our impressions on other things. When I read a post on a message board or an email and it's filled with typos, uses little or no punctuation and has the grammatical style of a third grader, I am going to immediately form an impression about the person that wrote it and it won't be good. At the very least I'll assume they're lazy. How hard is it to write something in a word processor that has a built in spell checker, copy it and then paste it into a post on a message board? I'm probably more anal about this than others and reread all of my posts before I hit the 'post' button and then read it again once it's posted, frequently using the 'edit' command to fix something I missed the first time.
I think something that is pervasive in this industry -- and more so than in others -- is a lack of professionalism. It doesn't take a college education to make money with adult websites and in many cases, it doesn't require the website owner to do business with others, but for those of you that hope to develop business relationships with others in this industry to further your success, please, take a little time to read over your posts or emails before you send them and for goodness sake, bookmark Dictionary.com and look a word up if you're unsure how to spell it.
Note: I realize that this is the World Wide Web and that means there are many for whom English is not their first language, and in those cases I always make allowances.
posted by
Hammer
at
2:25 PM
6 Comments:
I have to agree Hammer. Google has a spell check function in their toolbar which I use all of the time when chatting on message boards.
A handy little tool for sure.
I completely agree with you on this one. However, I must say that regarding ICQ, there is room for a little less formality particularly when having more of a social chat with someone. But if you are working out the basics of a business deal of some sort, then I think even an instant message should have at least a modicum of proper language usage. I especially love it when I see the improper use of the word "there" as a posessive on a pay site tour I'm thinking of sending traffic to. Once I see that the models are "Getting all there holes stuffed", it's game over. Really, it's a pay site for crying out loud!
It is easy to add dictionaries, and thesauruses to the search field in Firefox. That's also a very useful tool. Great article, Hammer.
I will add something from the non native speaker's point of view. Although I have been always lucky on any english teacher I had, I have passed some business english courses and I do even read some of my favourite books in the english original. I have sometimes a bit low empathy about the words I am using. Especially on boards, when you miss the personal contact. Sometimes I find out I have to sound unbelievably formal, or, that I used some a little bit too "spoken" english word. On the other hand, speaking of formality - I am very glad I can use english, my native language is horribly formal in any official contact, you can feel the "artificiality" from every word.
I agree as well, but don't be to quick to judge a book by it's cover. I run a fairly successful business and as my wife is an image consultant I am well aware of the importance of first impressions. But I have dyslexia, and so each time I write an email, comment on a forum post, etc. I am always triple checking my writing not only for spelling, but to make sure it makes some sort of sense! Even then I know some times what looks right to me can come across disjointed at times. Many people have dyslexia, but it does not mean we are any less intelligent...
I agree. If you are trying to sell a product, you better be able to spell it right. If words are not spelled correctly, who in their right minds would purchase or continue reading from that particular website!
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