Rude author blasts commentor who complains about typos

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I think that even pirates have higher standards.

I saw his Facebook thing on a pirate site this morning and sent him a link

[Thierry.C]

I've just discovered this thread and find the various subjects very interesting. So I'll add my pinch of salt.

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

In my language (Romanian) the word is "comentator"

In French it's "commenta-teur/-trice", too. But althoug I found it natural for "speech", I would prefer "the one who left a comment" for writing.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I think most of the best creative types are mentally damaged in some way. [...] I think it's more that writing attracts a lot of people with mental illness.

Interesting. I would have formulated it a bit differently, though (mental illness is relative). Something like: writing attracts people who prefer to express themselves differently; who "think" or "behave" differently.

Originally Posted by Quexos

If an author, someone that is supposed to be a guardian of correct spelling and syntax and other such concerns dismisses rudely it which he is supposed to uphold, literature is doomed.

I do not (completely) agree with this idea. OK if all authors are concerned. Furthermore, I do not think (all) authors are supposed to uphold a correct usage of language, and even less to uphold literature. Authors convey a message, if any. Nothing more, nothing less. Most of them love written expression and, maybe, readers have therefore came to think they "deserve" it. In other words, the purpose of writing is far from being the sole beauty of itself.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Some typos I can forgive. But too many and I start to have problems. Anyone who is this blatant about not caring will not get any time/money from me.

I'm particularly finicky with typography, about which most people do not care at all (or believe so...).

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I will add that good authors can use bad spelling and bad grammar judiciously to make a stylistic point.

Even more peculiar punctuation and typography (for me).

Originally Posted by anamardoll

... I don't award demerits for errors unless they're just truly distracting. I mean, hey, errors happen.

I act similarly with students (engineering, not literature...).

Originally Posted by Xanthe

If an author can't be bothered to spell or punctuate correctly, then I can't be bothered to read his/her work. If they can't be bothered to learn and use their own language intelligibly, then I'm not going to waste my time trying to decipher their meaning. Laziness like that shouldn't be rewarded with either my time or my money.

I completely agree about laziness; I partially agree with the first sentence; and disagree with the second one: wouldn't you let any chance to a near-illiterate to tell his/her wonderful story, when he/she share it with you graciously?

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

...but there are a lot more MR members who now know this guys name and may have even visited his website than there were yesterday.

True.


Lastly, I'll play devil's advocate... Although I globally disagree with the ideas expressed by that guy, I think he stressed out an interesting point: language is perpetually evolving (e.g., SMS), nobody control its evolution, and language is somehow made by itself (i.e., you cannot prevent it from metamorphosing; nothing can resist usage*)

* I'm not sure usage is a good translation of the French usage here. I mean a notion like practice, customs, habits, manners ...

Thierry

P.-S.: I read a p-book once, which had obviously not been proof-read by the editor... That is not forgivable (for the editor, at least).

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Thierry.C

Lastly, I'll play devil's advocate... Although I globally disagree with the ideas expressed by that guy, I think he stressed out an interesting point: language is perpetually evolving (e.g., SMS), nobody control its evolution, and language is somehow made by itself (i.e., you cannot prevent it from metamorphosing; nothing can resist usage*)

* I'm not sure usage is a good translation of the French usage here. I mean a notion like practice, customs, habits, manners ...

Thierry
.

Language is determined by usage, of course. But language is changed slowly by the mass of users, not by one lazy author. (Also: language isn't spelling; recent German spelling reforms, for example, did not change the language at all).

English itself has only changed very slowly over the past several hundred years - books written in 1800 are perfectly readable by modern readers (at least those who are familiar with the vocabulary; we are less horse-centered today).

Texting isn't changing the *language* at all. It may affect the formality of papers submitted by students in high school, of course...but that won't affect the actual language one bit.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by Thierry.C

P.-S.: I read a p-book once, which had obviously not been proof-read by the editor... That is not forgivable (for the editor, at least).

You're assuming they used an editor. Some times that step gets skipped.

[TheSFReader]

Just my 2 cents as a potential reader/customer :
As an author, he's jkind of right, he can expect his manuscript to go through at least one or two editing passes, which should get rid of typos. Who would provide these passes ? the publisher.

Now, he IS his own publisher, so as a publisher, he's responsible for the "marketability" and correctness of the product. So yes, he should have the book edited before selling it.

If HE is selling the book, it's HIS responsibility to sell a proof-read book.

[SensualPoet]

An aphorism for "writers" who aspire to fill ML Stewart's shoes:

I stink therefore I am.

This author's rant reminds me of my grandmother's homily: Dufus is as dufus does, although in her case she was referring a member of city council.

Two "facts" to reflect upon:

First installment: price was free, claims 7,000 "readers" (downloads, yes; verified readers, no)

Second installment: price is $1.50 ... ranked #129,710 Paid in Kindle Store

Someone ought to be kind and let the author know those 7,000 readers are laughing at him, not with him.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Thierry.C

............. I think he stressed out an interesting point: language is perpetually evolving (e.g., SMS)......

I'm not convinced that SMS is evolving from English (say), but is, in its own right, a new language fit for the purpose of short electronic messages.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

I'm not convinced that SMS is evolving from English (say), but is, in its own right, a new language fit for the purpose of short electronic messages.

GTK



.

[SensualPoet]

On a related note, over at goodreads, there are members of a monthly "book" club. I've noticed a frightening number of participants don't actually read books ... they listen to them.

Yes, it's an alternative and, no, it's not the same thing as reading.

I suppose one could argue they are equally "consuming" books (as in, getting through the words) but surely books are meant to be read just as plays are generally meant to be experienced in performance.

[Thierry.C]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

You're assuming they used an editor. Some times that step gets skipped.

You mean the publisher just give the manuscript a layout and go print?
In French and to my knowledge, there are no distinct words for publisher and editor (both into éditeur), so I assume the éditeur is responsible for the whole process of publishing (édition in French).

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Language is determined by usage, of course. But language is changed slowly by the mass of users, not by one lazy author.

Yes, but mass of users contain lazy authors, too.
However, I fully agree that it shouldn't give an excuse to the author for being lazy.

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Texting isn't changing the *language* at all. It may affect the formality of papers submitted by students in high school, of course...but that won't affect the actual language one bit.

I disagree with this idea. As you said, language is determined by usage of mass of users. And the way users are using language is affected by the parallel usage of SMS. Hence, even if it's not sensible, texting is changing the language a tiny bit; slowly. Note that I do not necessarily mean integration of phonemic writing into language. Other small influences are possible, such as choice of words, more common use of some abbreviations, slight (and slow) changes in semantics, creation of new words, etc.

Originally Posted by GeoffC

I'm not convinced that SMS is evolving from English (say), but is, in its own right, a new language fit for the purpose of short electronic messages.

I agree with the idea of the language separating into two branches. But I think English is evolving (a bit) because of SMS, as any other languages.

Note that I'm not fond of the way SMS are used. I rarely use abbreviations into SMS, and never use phonetic writing. However, I surely use the language differently when writing SMS. I'm convinced this affects the "colour" of my overall language.

Thierry

[Sil_liS]

I was curious about the development so I went back to the blog. It seems that he is extremely happy about our little discussion (he calls it a bitching session) and also believes that the OP of this thread is the one who commented on his blog:

After my counter-attack against him (see the last blog) he started his own thread, entitled...
“Rude author blasts commentor who complains about typos.” (Yep! That will be me then.) I encourage all of you who are learning something from this experiment to read through it. The link is below. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=149734

It is an outstanding piece of work; I am branded a “tool”, an “idiot”, “mentally ill” and all manner of things my teachers used to call me at school. My, how it brought back fond memories. The first reply to his post was this, “That blogger is an attention whore. This ignorant outburst will only help him garner even more. Best SEO tool there is.” (That's Search Engine Optimization for those of you that don't know) Very astute and by God it worked. The traffic to the blog soared overnight (directly from his link) and distribution levels of FBK1 jumped dramatically as a direct result.

Mr. Anonymous did, in one day, what I have failed to do in the past three months; he increased my blog readership by almost 200%. In brief, I have always found that controversy helps, it gets people talking (even if they are putting you down) but you will always have the curious who want to delve deeper and see what all the fuss is about. This is an especially useful tool to use with so-called “academics” because they just can’t let a sleeping dog lie.

[anamardoll]

Huh. Well, at least he's honest and a good sport about it. I can respect that.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Rude author

The first reply to his post was this, “That blogger is an attention whore. This ignorant outburst will only help him garner even more. Best SEO tool there is.” (That's Search Engine Optimization for those of you that don't know) Very astute and by God it worked. The traffic to the blog soared overnight (directly from his link) and distribution levels of FBK1 jumped dramatically as a direct result.

I was right! And now apparently widely quoted, as well.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I was right! And now apparently widely quoted, as well.

It needs to go in a signature now.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I was right! And now apparently widely quoted, as well.

Hee-Hee.