Post Coherency and Adherence to Good English
Hey, everyone! I thought I’d take just a little time to talk about how posts should be written.
#Formatting
Formatting should follow something like posts by @dtm or me (@oaktree).
I would advise that you learn some basic Markdown syntax before posting. Alternatively, the editor comes with some clickables that’ll drop in the formatting for you. (See the B and I buttons?)
Grammar
Not everyone has perfect grammar, and that’s alright. However, all contributors should keep in mind that part of making a thorough, readable, and understandable post is maintaining good grammar practices and using English properly.
I’m not saying that you should never end a sentence with a preposition on here, but make your writing understandable.
Word Choice
Another part of writing good posts is word choice. You shouldn’t be too repetitive or redundant. Avoid recursive definitions when trying to describe something. An example of a recursive definition is:
Suing is when you sue somebody.
Also, posters should avoid repeating words too often:
Now that we have done this, now we will do this.
Did you notice the repetitions of “now” and “this”?
Now that we have done this, let’s do something else.
Oh, wow! That’s so much better. All you really have to do is think a little bit longer before you type.
Proof-Reading
Always read over what you’ve written.
Things to look for include:
- Spelling, Grammar, Capitalization, and Punctuation
- Language Semantics: Does what you wrote convey the meaning you intended?
- Formatting: Can a reader follow this? Are my paragraphs too long? Make sure you split things up into paragraphs. For procedures, use ordered lists.
- Spelling, Grammar, Capitalization, and Punctuation: Yes, I put this one twice. It’s important! Even if you’re not a native English speaker, you have access to spellcheck and Google!
Conclusion
This post was just a little advice relating to how articles should be written. If you’ve noticed, I may have edited a post of yours and cited “spelling, grammar, and formatting” as the reason. I usually will not do this, but if I feel like the post is just below “understandable,” I’ll make a few changes to it.