Note, this does not refer to posters who use English as a second language.
I must admit I dislike posts which appear to have been relayed by somebody texting while driving and wearing a straight-jacket.
Perhaps I am an old conservative but I find them both hard to read and also makes me more reluctant reply, if they can't make the effort, why should I? Being a traditionalist I would expect people who are asking for help on these forums to be
(a) polite
(b) try to explain there problem as fully and concisely as possible
(c) demonstrate an attempt to solve the problem themselves.
It is surprising the number of titles that just say "help" with no clue to their content, similary the number of posts which demand immediate fixes rather than request assistance with their understanding of a problem, perhaps that's actually another topic.
Perhaps posters who litter their posts with "ur" and other appalling contractions only want replies from other ten year olds.
I agree with you on all of your points. People who use language like "ur" are in violation of the rules which state:
(9) Edit your posts if you see spelling or grammar errors (don't write in cyberchat or cyberpunk style). English only.
Many of our users have English as a second language and spellings like "ur" make things very difficult for them. Politeness is also required:
(2) No negative comments about others or impolite remarks. Be patient.
I also dislike threads with titles like "help". At least I assume that I dislike them. Over the past couple of years I have usually ignored threads like that. I have learned that when I dislike the title of a thread I am usually not going to like the content either.
I don't know what to make of the debugging skills that a few of our questioners seem to have. I wonder if they treat their automobile mechanics the same way... "Hey, I tried to drive to store, but my car could not complete the trip. What could cause that? And how can I fix that? Please respond quickly...this is urgent!"
My advice is to ignore threads that you don't like. I don't have enough time to help everyone who follows the rules and posts reasonable questions. So I don't want to waste time with people who won't follow the rules or spend a little time composing a reasonable question.
I don't mind the 'ur' stuff that much, being as I am 12, and everyone I know types like that. I don't approve of it, but I don't care. On unix.com, words are the only thing you have to communicate with. and if you mis-use them, people will think you are unintelligent and more immature then you actually are; use them correctly and people will think the contrary. If your posts fail to be in readability standards, no one will read them.
I know people who type like that. It's not because they are unintelligent (but in actuality they are unintelligent), but don't want to type like that. To save time? No. They type at a fast enough rate that they wouldn't waste more then 1-2 seconds finishing words; they replace letters with different ones, which wouldn't make any speed difference; they make way too many typos; don't use any punctuation; lastly, they spell many of the words wrong. A simple phrase like "What's up?" is completely mis-used into "wutz up" (usually comes out with some typo, or some acronym). Maybe they type like that to fit in? To look cool? I don't know; nor do I care enough to research it.
Now related to the 'help' topics. You have to remember that some people are new to this, and can't be a complete ass to them. You have to slowly nudge them into the topic naming and such. Deleting/Editing the posts doesn't help them at all. You have to teach them how to do it properly, not do it for them.
I agree that people should proof read before they post.
English is a second language for me and I do understand the difficulty
people who do not speak English nativily have trying to express themselves.
But one thing to remember is that a lot of these people only post here for
a few times and never login again.
On the same note, a lot of the posts could be resolved if they just search
the forum -- but they don't.
Besides having written rules, I don't think there is anything else that can
be done to make people write proper English and to search the forum
before they post.
It is like trying to force people to remove their shoes before they enter
your house -- even with a written sign at the door, people will come up
with all kinds of excuses for not doing it.