Leaving comments about corrections

1. 89

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   Sometimes I come across hubs that are well written but have a glaring grammatical mistake or other error. I usually leave a note along the lines of "---- needs to be fixed up, Feel free to delete this."
   
   Just wondering if too many "deleted comments" could ever have a detrimental effect on a hubbers account?

   replyreport
   1. 58

      englightenedsoulposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think deleting too many comment would have any effect on a hubber's account.  During the 60 day challenge, I had deleted many comments from the other team members as they were suggestions and corrections and it didn't affect me a bit.

      replyreport
   2. 60

      Kimberly Bunchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I really appreciate it if I have typos and someone comes along willing to help me out. I love it but I can see how sometimes some people might get offended.
      
      If you like to do that type of thing --correct peoples' errors please feel free to stop by and let me have it anytime. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
      
      Maybe you might want to consider being an English teacher someday.
      
      Oh and I don't think that them deleting what you said has anything to do with your score unless they retaliate and click the thumbs down button on you.
      
      (Sincerely speaking only).
      
      

      replyreport
2. 57

   Dame Scribeposted 13 years ago

   I only offer such a suggestion if they asked for help. Otherwise, I don't make any mistakes they have...public. I rather send a email to them. Just my own thoughts.

   replyreport
   1. 85

      rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I agree. some people don't moderate their comments first.
      with hubbers I follow, if I find a glaring error, which I have, I send them an email. the few times I have done this, they wrote me back thanking me that I cared enough to send an email. I have a few email accounts, so I'm not concerned in that aspect, I know some are.
      
      as far as deleting comments, not sure that would be an issue especially those moderated.

      replyreport
3. 90

   Pcunixposted 13 years ago

   I'd probably leave the correction comment to help remind me to do more proof reading next time :-)
   
   I hate when I discover some glaring typo or screwed up sentence months (sometimes years) later. 
   
   Sometimes many hundreds or thousands of people have read  it; surely SOME must have noticed the error - why couldn't they have left a note?

   replyreport
4. 80

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   WryLit -
   
   Are you asking if the deleted comments would have a detrimental effect on the account of the one who left the comments? or of the one who did the deleting?  I was assuming the former, but just wanted to confirm.

   replyreport
5. 39

   Spacey Graceyposted 13 years ago

   Can't imagine deleting comments has a negative effect on the hub. I have had to delete loads on my vuvuzela hub as funnily enough I do not feel like advertising other people's vuvuzela selling sites for free. I haven't seen the hubscore take a hit.
   
   And WryLit - always feel free to correct me - I hate proofreading so I am rubbish at it.

   replyreport
6. 75

   Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years ago

   Surprised no one has commented on my hubs about spelling more often than grammar. Especially my use of 'Australian' English rather than the use of 'American English' as in the differences like colour or specialise (Aussie Spelling)and color or specialize (American Spelling). Hmmmm

   replyreport
   1. 63

      Info Bucketposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have the same experiance here, Indian English(same as British English) have a slight differences from the American, will be confused to hear comments about spelling mistakes.

      replyreport
   2. 0

      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That is not Australian English that you are referring to there, that is in fact 'English'. As in, the way that English people traditionally convey their language in written form. Those two examples 'colour' and 'specialise' in fact represent words which the Australians have not altered. That would be like you learning Chinese and referring to words as 'Australian Chinese', which clearly doesn't exist.
      
      'British English' prevails over 'American English' at a ratio of approximately 3:1 in Australia. This means that you speak and write mostly British English, a little bit of Americanised English, what you certainly do not write is 'Australian English'. You most certainly do 'speak' Australian English, seeing as this would relate to linguistics, but pronounciation and accent cannot be conveyed when either Americanised or British English is displayed in its true written form.
      
      That American influence that exists in the Australian use of the language is result of, largely, the Gold rush...

      replyreport
      1. 60

         Kimberly Bunchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I love smart people!
         

         replyreport
      2. 80

         MayGposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Ryankett, as an Australian I have to disagree with your last sentence.  The American influence on our language is fairly recent, largely due to the popularity of American media here.  We have much more American content on our televisions these days than we do British, and of course we read a lot of printed material that originates in America. This has brought about a stronger American influence on our language than at any other time in our history.   To say that 'American influence that exists in the Australian use of the language is (a) result of, largely, the Gold rush' seems quite humorous to me.

         replyreport
         1. 89

            WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I'd have to agree with MayG on this one - words such as "chores" and "hi" are only recent additions to our language that originated in the US.

            replyreport
      3. 43

         Neil Ashworthposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Good to see the old colonial spirit coming out there Ryankett. Of course, we never had a word in the English language for boomerang, so feel free to claim this one as your own!

         replyreport
7. 80

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   IMO many Hubbers use different but acceptable spelling, and so it is pretty easy to overlook.  Canadians, Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, Indians, and who else? oh, yes, ex-pats of all of these - all will spell similarly to one another and differently from the Yanks.  And a very high percentage of the best and most influential Hubbers are not American.
   
   Now, if the spelling is words like your/you're, its/it's, their/there/they're, to/too/two, I would be more than happy to yell and scream about errors.  Color/colour, -ise/-ize - those are all acceptable differences.  (Even flat vs. apartment and lift vs. elevator......., but of course those are not differences in spelling.)

   replyreport
   1. 75

      Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      ahhhhh very succinctly put !!!!

      replyreport
8. 58

   humagaiaposted 13 years ago

   Major errors I flag where the writer is otherwise obviously conversant with English and I think would appreciate the chance to re-edit their hub. I also flag where the error is a typo that has not been picked up on proofing, unless there are so many as to make me think the author just cannot be bothered - why should I do their proofreading. Where the hub is obviously from one that has a different method of phraseology I say nothing as I would not have the time to re-educate.
   The problem we all have is that we are too keen to publish. Taking just a little extra time to re-focus and re-read our hubs to see if each sentence actually makes sense and that typographic and spelling errors are eradicated would be time well spent.
   When a hub is constructed with quality information then I am willing to give a second set of eyes and flag errors on the basis that I would accept these myself. I actually ask for comments and criticisms as a heading to the comments section.
   As to whether the recipient of the comment deleting my comments has an effect on my hubscore, I would expect not. However, we place too much emphasis on this score (other than ensuring it stays above 75 to enable dofollow) as we all know that it can go up as well as down on what seems to be purely arbitrary criteria.

   replyreport
9. 81

   timorousposted 13 years ago

   I remember this topic being brought up before.  I don't know if it's a co-incidence, but the more prolific hubbers seem to have more spelling mistakes, and sometimes the odd phrase dis-connect.  I suppose in their haste to publish they aren't in the habit of checking thoroughly.
   
   I'm hesitant to point these errors out in their comments section.  Some people are a bit sensitive about what might be interpreted as criticism, rather than simple correction.
   
   The best way to let them know is to contact them via e-mail.  Just remember to be kind and considerate, and not criticize their sloppiness.
   
   I'm sure we'd all like to have a perfectly coherant hub for others to read without having to re-interpret or fix as we read along.
   
   I think many hubbers could stand to have a good proofreader, preferably someone who's very good at spelling and grammar.  Authors tend to overlook their own mistakes every time.
   
   Cheers

   replyreport
   1. 90

      Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Of course we do.  As we read the sentences, we already know how they end.  We know our intent, so it is easy to miss the actuality.

      replyreport
10. 39

    Spacey Graceyposted 13 years ago

    Sometimes hubbers put in deliberate spelling and grammar mistakes to pick up popular search terms - although with Search Assist this is becoming less relevant.

    replyreport
    1. 89

       WryLiltposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Went to bed and woke up to heaps of answers... so here's some clarification.
       
       1. Yes Gracey, I meant for the poster of the deleted comment. I assumed that since we have a "spam" button it's completely acceptable to delete inappropriate comments on our own hubs.
       2. If it's a hub that is obviously written by someone with poor English or as spam/advertising, I don't bother. However if I believe that the hub is otherwise  well written but one error was overlooked I leave a comment. I guess it's a "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" thing. I've read through my own old hubs and found one or two glaring mistakes!
       3. I don't do it on things that can be taken two ways - although I've started writing in "American" lately when my keywords are something like "labor" or "labour." As Aficionada said, the obvious ones like you're/your or when they've obviously missed out a word. One time I found a hub where someone had forgotten to cut and paste in half the hub and were very grateful I'd noticed.
       4. I hadn't thought of using emails for it. Maybe I will in future. However I always read and vet all comments before posting them to my hubs, silly me thinking everyone else does.

       replyreport
11. 86

    Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

    I just posted an idea to the Report a Problem section on a new capsule which might be helpful.
    
    Deleting comments doesn't harm your Hub.  I doubt HubPages would ever want to penalize someone for deleting comments, since spam is a big problem for some Hubbers and it wouldn't be fair to penalize the Hubber since they can't control who comments.

    replyreport
12. 69

    bayouladyposted 13 years ago

    It's okay, but be nice:>) .Please hubbers ,feel free to email me if you see a big boo boo! As ladies know....it's like having the lace of your slip showing and no one has the heart to tell you. So you go to the ladies room an hour later and there it is BUMMER....well how many people have seen it by then? Somebody needs to be the HERO and pssst  as soon as possible!
    A few days ago my aunt was reading one of my hubs. She told me that I used the word stupidest instead of most stupid. I looked it up on a grammar site.I was wrongI went to edit right then!

    replyreport
13. 85

    DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years ago

    I have written a couple of hubs on the matter, as a way of hoping folks take notice, since I know some people would be offended if a comment was left correcting them in public.
    
    However, by writing a hub, no one is singled out by name.  I agree that glaring errors perhaps should be politely pointed out--privately--via e-mail.
    
    I don't sweat the cultural spelling differences..I know what they are, and I don't count them as errors.
    
    I don't feel I can say a lot, otherwise, since I DO proofreading as a side business--and HP has this anti-self-promotion thing going...I would not want any correction taken the wrong way, as an attempt to drum up business. 
    
    What is very embarrassing indeed, however, is when I find, days later, that I have missed a typo in my OWN work.  Sometimes the old eyes play tricks, and no matter how many times I go over something, those old typos just don't show up until after you've hit the 'publish' button!  Grrrrr!!

    replyreport
    1. 93

       wildernessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       My personal theory is that those typos shrink down to black hole size and hide in the periods, just waiting for the publish button.  That's all I can figure, anyway. 

       replyreport
    2. 60

       Kimberly Bunchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Very common for writers. That's why they say to let it ferment for awhile and then come back to it later.
       
       Anyways, nobody is perfect, but I hate those typos too. Therefore, I do like it when someone calls out grammar errors for me, even if it is rude unless I asked for editing help. lol.

       replyreport