[robocat]

Correcting someone’s English is usually seen as a sign of social posturing, because higher education is often related to someone’s self-perception of social status ranking. It takes a extremely skilled approach to do it without causing offence.

It is especially poor form on HN, because you cannot know whether English is their second language, or whether there are other reasons for mistakes (such as being in a hurry, having dyslexia, or having a disability.)

[koyote]

If you are a native English speaker, higher education should not be required for basic writing. There is no requirement to use complicated words, but I'd expect someone to be able to spell correctly (especially on a device with spell checking).

If you are not a native speaker, corrections are one way to learn from your mistakes and improve your English.

If you are in a hurry then maybe you should wait until you are not in a hurry before posting to HN.

I do agree that correcting someone often comes across in a bad way, but at the same time so does leaving a comment riddled with mistakes.

[setr]

I see the issue as more pretentious than anything else -- I know how to spell correctly, I have fucking spellcheck just like you do, but I don't give enough of a damn to go back through and right click every dumb typo and issue; especially when im typing on a phone or a shitty chat app with random delays

If the only thing you got from my whole post is my missed period, especially if my post was a response/argument to whatever you claimed, you're either a moron or intentionally trying to one-up me in an aspect that nobody cares about

Grammar is not a signal of intelligence in short-form communications. In long-form/formal communications, it's a minimum barrier to entry (if you can't even be assed to type your name properly, why should I bother with your 50 page paper?), but different context, different systems, different rules

[elwell]

> if you can't even be assed to type your name properly, why should I bother with your 50 page paper?

There has to be line somewhere though...

[elwell]

Sorry, it was just too hard to pass up the irony embedded in this sentence:

"What one things is clear communication with no ambiguity, another might disagree."

> It is especially poor form on HN

I totally get that I was being annoying. At same time, if there's anywhere one can indulge in the art of being overly pedantic, is it not here?

> having dyslexia, or having a disability

In that case, I would feel bad for jokingly correcting them. Yes, it is hard to know the person behind the keyboard.

[viraptor]

The worst case for fixing someone's typo is when you know their first language isn't English and assume that's where the mistake comes from. 99% of the time I make mistakes due to swipe/predictive input changing something I don't notice. Yet it gets pointed out by someone repeatedly writing "should of" or asking for simple spelling advice.

[Phrodo_00]

As an ESL speaker, I appreciate people who make an effort to correct me.

[elwell]

> As an ESL speaker, I appreciate people who make an effort to correct me.

A flawless sentence!

[Phrodo_00]

:)

[Aeolun]

Depends on what you are correcting I think. Correcting shear to sheer was the immediate thing I mentally did when reading the message, because if you don’t, people will keep doing this wrong in more important settings too.

All the punctuation is less important and I wouldn’t really bother with it.