What makes a crown worthy review ?

helencbradshaw wrote:

lisa2062 wrote:

Even when I've spaced my paragraphs up appropriately, I've had on occasions dyslexic members ask if I could add headings to make the review easier to read.

I have never been asked that, and to be honest, while I have sometimes rewritten a sentence or so as I received feedback that if the language was a bit clunky, there is no way I would add headings just because someone asked me to (or left a bit of normal misguided "advice" in my comments - a ciao trait....) My English isn't that unreadable..surely!

It would be like translating it to French or German, or Braille or something, and I couldn't do that either..

I've been asked by only one member about making some changes, but not on Dooyoo. I've never made their changes though because no-one else has ever said anything about the readability of my reviews and, to be fairly honest, I consider this person to be a troublemaker and nothing more because their own reviews are much, much poorer than those they demand changes to.

I wasn't sure how to bring up the topic of the "readability" of your reviews though Aaron...

It's easy Helen.

"Oh Aaron, your reviews rock and are everso reeadable!"

Ciao's Favourite Member wrote:

It's easy Helen.

"Oh Aaron, your reviews rock and are everso reeadable!"

helencbradshaw wrote:

I have never really got the "spellcheck" advice either.

Proof read..yes.

Spell check advice is given as not everyone can spell! And there are lots of people like me who type faster than they are really capable of and make lots of typo's. Spell check is a quicker way of amending any errors than proof reading.

I do spell check to amend the mistakes, then proof read to amend any nonsense sentences I have come up with.

If you are an excellent speller, an excellent typist and have an excellent command of the English language, then maybe spell checker wouldn't help you at all, but there are tons of people out there who need it - hence the advice.

Spell check advice would obviously only be given to people whose reviews indicate that they couldn't spell their way out of a paper bag - and sadly they are not a small group.

koshkha wrote:

Spell check advice would obviously only be given to people whose reviews indicate that they couldn't spell their way out of a paper bag - and sadly they are not a small group.

Definuterly.

Slplchkers scuk!!!?!!!LOL!!

I worked at a company where the secretary was prone to using auto spell checkers and not reading things throuhg. She was typing up a letter responding to a complaint about deliveries which her boss had abbreviated to 'dels' and the spell checker did its magic. The customer got a letter about the problems he was having with his 'dildoes' instead.

Spellcheckers are fine mostly, but I always go away for an hour and come back for a re-read before posting which helps eliminate those problems that the spell checker can't catch.

WendyBull wrote:

helencbradshaw wrote:

I have never really got the "spellcheck" advice either.

Proof read..yes.

Spell check advice is given as not everyone can spell! And there are lots of people like me who type faster than they are really capable of and make lots of typo's. Spell check is a quicker way of amending any errors than proof reading.

I do spell check to amend the mistakes, then proof read to amend any nonsense sentences I have come up with.

If you are an excellent speller, an excellent typist and have an excellent command of the English language, then maybe spell checker wouldn't help you at all, but there are tons of people out there who need it - hence the advice.

Yes, but I don't understand why it is automatically tripped out as feedback for every five line review - plus I don't think it is just about spelling. After all if people who cannot spell had pride in their work, they would do this by themselves anyway. So I don't think it is people don't know where the spell check option is, but more like they are writing in this modern accepted form of language, or they haven't realised the objectives of the site properly.

Plus, if you cannot spell, giving advice to use a spell checker is probably of less use than someone who can spell, but might make a few typos on occasion! Similarly, merely having a calculator will not help someone understand maths..!

Sometimes I find myself reading and commenting behind someone else and this bit of 'threecommunitypoint' advice on every review (on the other side, for that, I realise...but the principle is the same.................)

That's what I don't get.

Quote :

Plus, if you cannot spell, giving advice to use a spell checker is probably of less use than someone who can spell, but might make a few typos on occasion! Similarly, merely having a calculator will not help someone understand maths..![

I understand what you are saying but I consider myself to be a fairly good speller but there are still certain words that always come out wrong, like definately and license. The spell checker is very useful for those things.

A calculator won't teach you maths (I agree) but it makes it damned easier to work out the square root of 1052, for instance. The same with a spell checker - it won't teach you to spell but it makes your work more presentable and easier for others to read.

I do spell check my reviews, in particular as English is not my first language and I'm bound to make some mistakes. But I've also learned that spell-check can be pretty useless when it doesn't pick up some of the common mistakes.

"Eye halve a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I'm shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in its weigh,
My chequer tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker's
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know fault's with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word's fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw's are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas."

...yes, it will catch typos and words that we might have to think about.

but it won't stop a lot of common errors by itself. Even license. Or any homophone.

I guess my point though isn't that I think Spell Checkers should be banished from MS Word for ever, more that I think that the "advice" is tripped out automatically without that much thought.

I think people rely on them too much, and expect them to work miracles - and they don't. This happens in the workplace, not just on review sites...!

Like calculators! The use of calculators seems to have removed the ability for people to do even think about basic calculations, like percentages/fractions..or do a sanity check on their results..! Stuff that is taught in Junior School.

The amount of times we see the same kind of excuses for what is often a lack of proof-reading is frightening. Even the newspapers (presumably relying on their spell-check programs seem to get it wrong more often)

It made me cringe when I learned a member on here had walked out of a hotel in Colchester (that belongs to my last employer) because of the Desert Menu. (She was disgusted..!)

Minnitee wrote:

I do spell check my reviews, in particular as English is not my first language and I'm bound to make some mistakes. But I've also learned that spell-check can be pretty useless when it doesn't pick up some of the common mistakes.

"Eye halve a spelling checker
That came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

............................

Exactly...

I don't think the advice is tripped out, it's just another net to catch some mistakes. For me, the majority of mistakes I make are typo's, simply because I try and type too fast, either to get work finished or becasue the thoughts are coming into my brain too quick for me to type slowly.

I have to type the word license into letters a lot and I nearly always type it wrong - spell checker picks it up every time.

It is certainly not perfect and will not work miracles, as you say, but it's a bloody good tool to make things simpler.

As for calculators - god bless 'em!

WendyBull wrote:

As for calculators - god bless 'em!

I stood in a bank the other day and had made a mistake when adding up cheques I had to pay in, £195 had to be deducted from £2100. The girl in the bank used a calculator to work out what it should have said while I told her a few times before she's even found her calculator. It's a shame when people don't know how to do mental arthmatic anymore. Everyone should do simply sums in their heads and not rely on calculators.

I know what you mean about typing too fast and spell check picking up on mistakes. But a lot of the time it doesn't and it only flags the really bad mistakes because the rest makes sense. I don't use spell check as a definitive, it's more a guide and more often then not I will find mistakes a lot later that the spell check did not flag.

WendyBull wrote:

I don't think the advice is tripped out, it's just another net to catch some mistakes. For me, the majority of mistakes I make are typo's, simply because I try and type too fast, either to get work finished or becasue the thoughts are coming into my brain too quick for me to type slowly.

but you are echoing my point there, you don't really need one, it catches a few errors. I also very much doubt you would be getting comments telling you to improve your spelling, even if you made a typo.

Perhaps I rate at funny times or something then, (or on ciao, I must be constantly following a dot chaser...!) but I am frankly astounded at how often this advice is tripped out, review, after review, after review, from the new in lists, LITERALLY, when it would make no difference at all, as the issue is bigger than mere spelling alone..!

To me it is along the lines of "need more info", (i.e. as useful as a chocolate fireguard) and in fact the two are often coexisting in the same comment box.

WendyBull wrote:

As for calculators - god bless 'em!

I am old enough to have done 2 out of my three Maths O'Level papers without one.

Never did me any harm

I find it mildly worrying that many people in the workplace cannot now do something like work out a percentage of a number without a percentage button on a calculator (but still using the calculator).

Not sure if we are going backwards or forwards there!

I'd say it wouldn't matter if it is an productivity gain (I am no Luddite despite how it looks over the last hour..!!) , but it is definitely an understanding loss.

I thought we were referring to the advice given on here on what makes a review crownworthy - not comments left on ciao.

A crownworthy review should have good spelling and a spell checker is a good start to achieving that.

helencbradshaw wrote:

WendyBull wrote:

As for calculators - god bless 'em!

I am old enough to have done 2 out of my three Maths O'Level papers without one.

Never did me any harm

Although calculators are slightly off topic when it comes to crown worthy reviews........I did use a calculator for maths GCSE but I still knew the basics of how to workout general maths problems.

Just because things can be done manually does not mean we should disregard advances in "technology" which make our lives easier.

My son will learn how to use his brain to calculate basic maths but I will not feel he has been disadvantaged if he uses a calculator for more gritty stuff.

Agreed on the spelling part. Bad spelling drives me mad. Agreed on the Spell checker being a tool for catching errors...I won't repeat my original contribution any more!

I was just making an analogy with the calculator to make my point..very badly (obviously)...as I said, I am not a luddite either..! (although I have lost my calculator )

Now Crowns...

Use a spell checker!

HA!