Those of you that know me have probably seen me around various internet forums, the most frequent being NetBuilders and the newly started Websterly. What I love about forums is the ability to connect with people. However, this can be hard if a lot of members write things you simply cannot understand.
I did a study a while back on whether or not grammar is important online. While the majority of online users said that yes, grammar is an important part of online, the sad truth is that the world-wide-web is getting wider everyday, and forums aren’t exactly known for their Shakespearean posting quality.
I want to be completely honest with you, I have no problems with those who cannot write well in English. However, even basic sentence structure can get lost in the fray of common online abbreviations and just plain horrible grammar…
You might be thinking “so what?” How does the posting quality of another member affect you?
Let me tell you a secret…imitation can be an involuntary action, and if you’ve read my post on developing your personal style through mimicry, you’ll probably know that the best way to use traits from somebody’s writing style is to attempt to copy it. Unfortunately, your brain will involuntarily copy the style you see if you read enough of it.
That is what makes reading so powerful for enhancing writing skills…and what makes internet forums so dangerous.
The Problem with Leading by Example
Imagine that you go to a large forum and diverse such as Digital Point (not to pick on DP, but they have constant offenders). You begin by posting in short paragraphs or complex sentences.
Now imagine that the average reply looks something like this:
“Till the day am getting good number of hits from the fan pages to my site.”
Or perhaps it looks like this:
“is there the fastest way to make money on the internet other than Adsense? Please advice”
To someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, these responses are not horrific. However, would you want to write professional content with this sentence structure? That is what could happen if you spend enough time absorbing posts that look exactly like this. Remember, those examples were written by two completely different posters on two completely different forums.
A True Example from Writer Seven’s Own Author
I want to let you in on something…I have an odd quirk. Whenever I read something for a long period of time (between 5 to 10 minutes minimum), I will begin to copy that writing style. Remember, I spend a lot of time on forums because they are my main marketing tool. However, just this morning I found myself typing a response…
“I think making money online takes effort. Effort is important to making profits. You can make profits if you work hard and develop your business.”
I found myself “circle talking.” After viewing some of my more recent posts, I found similar, generalized remarks. The truth is that while in reading blog posts, you can absorb originality and personal style, forum posts are becoming less personal. Not because the people posting are bad writers, but because they aren’t applying writing principles to posting on forums.
Even I’m too lazy to apply writing principles 100% of the time, and I run a writing blog. I want to become a professional writer. I do freelance writing and I think about writing about 56% of my day. Yet I dumb down my message, when engaging with social interest would create a better response…
Why?
The answer for some is time. Others are simply not educated in considering diction and sentence structure at every turn. Some people are just plain boring. The point is that your mimicry function will adapt what you read, and if you read a lot of senseless or impersonal information, you’ll start writing it.
So, Can Forums Worsen Your Writing Style?
Forums have the potential to lead with bad examples, however, some forums have excellent communities with posters that are personable and engage in great conversation with one another. Can forums affect your writing style? Definitely. Style is dynamic and just about everything influences it. However, it’s the quality of those influences that matters.
What do you think? Do you find yourself lessening your writing quality on forums? Do you lead by example on forums and try to set better standards? Perhaps you completely disagree with me? Let me know your thoughts and opinions below!
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