Spelling and Grammar

Uncola Man

Experienced
Joined
May 18, 2002
Posts
32
I just took over the story Mind Control/Incest, and...

Sweet Jesus, there's some atrocious spelling and grammar in this story! I was able to approve a thread of mine that had been waiting for a long, long time, and I think it was passable, but most of the rest of the story...!

I'll probably be doing lots of rewriting of current threads this weekend just to make the story legible. Most of them are short threads, at least.

To what extent is it still a person's thread if it's been totally rewritten so that it makes sense??

Sorry about the whining. Had to get that out of my system. Now to allow for follow-up comments:
Does anyone else approve and fix faulty threads or just Approve/Deny?
 
I have only had one story for a very small amount of time, so take this with a grain of salt. Heck, take the whole shaker.

I basically think that threads should either not be approved or the original intent should stay the same. Fixing grammar, formatting, and spelling: sure. Changing past tense to present tense because that's how the rest of the story is, that's fine. But anything more than that seems like too much. If I feel that a thread would be better if it was completely rewritten, I'd rather reject it and write my own thread.
 
I basically think that threads should either not be approved or the original intent should stay the same. Fixing grammar, formatting, and spelling: sure. Changing past tense to present tense because that's how the rest of the story is, that's fine. But anything more than that seems like too much. If I feel that a thread would be better if it was completely rewritten, I'd rather reject it and write my own thread.

I completely agree with this.

I will make changes that are corrections, but I won't change the intent. I usually don't go so far as to change tense, unless the thread is small.

If a thread is okay (meets standards, is long enough, etc), but I just don't like where it goes, I usually approve it and write another that goes the way I want. I'm not afraid of opposing viewpoints.
 
I actually saw a thread at the start of the month in a story I edit. Voted not to accept it, & in the place for reasons, I wrote something along the line of "spelling, grammar, run-on sentences... Where do I begin?"

I think also it'd be great (wishing, I know) if we could have a thread credited to 2 people; The writer, & the editor who made it legible English. (How many stories I've written threads for where I don't think people got to mine b/c they can't read the prior!)
 
I found an exception. I just read this in a story:

"showing her 36 inch big yet, well proportioned and perky breasts."

If I found that in a story I was editing, I would rip out the "36 inch big" part and write the author a note telling him that was total gibberish.
 
I just took over the story Mind Control/Incest, and...
To what extent is it still a person's thread if it's been totally rewritten so that it makes sense??

Does anyone else approve and fix faulty threads or just Approve/Deny?

I think the idea was the original authors so it is always their thread. If you act as an editor that does not change anything. If you have to rewrite that much of it it should be rejected.

I usually fix threads of minor to medium sized errors and don't worry about it. I don't see a lot of similar mistakes in my own writing so I figure that goes along with being an editor for a story. That being said, I also will just reject a badly written thread if I don't feel like dealing with it. I always figure it's my story and I can do with it as I like.
 
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