Firefighting & Rescue Social / Professional Network
What is a Blog? Really!
A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. ...
So I put it to you, the members, are we seeing blogs written by bloggers or are we seeing messages left on a message board by messengers?
When a "blog" is written without sentence or paragraph breaks, no use of upper or lower case letters, misspellings and text code, is it a blog, an elaborate text message or someone who ditched English class?
Make an effort, people.
If what I am reading is the wave of the future, then our civilization and the English language as we know it is in deep trouble.
I am all for sharing your thoughts, but frame it so that it can be understood with minimal interpretation skills.
I have written about 65 blogs since joining the website. Many here have posted ONE blog/message-never to be heard from again. Blogger, my a**.
No; it doesn't have to be Shakespearian. Some of you know who William Shakespeare was, right?
But please, it's "I"; not "i", "you" and not "u"; "are"; not "r". And if it's not too much trouble, a period, comma or semi-colon would add texture to your "blog".
F.O.G.I.E. and proud of it.
TCSS.
Art
So I put it to you, the members, are we seeing blogs written by bloggers or are we seeing messages left on a message board by messengers?
When a "blog" is written without sentence or paragraph breaks, no use of upper or lower case letters, misspellings and text code, is it a blog, an elaborate text message or someone who ditched English class?
Make an effort, people.
If what I am reading is the wave of the future, then our civilization and the English language as we know it is in deep trouble.
I am all for sharing your thoughts, but frame it so that it can be understood with minimal interpretation skills.
I have written about 65 blogs since joining the website. Many here have posted ONE blog/message-never to be heard from again. Blogger, my a**.
No; it doesn't have to be Shakespearian. Some of you know who William Shakespeare was, right?
But please, it's "I"; not "i", "you" and not "u"; "are"; not "r". And if it's not too much trouble, a period, comma or semi-colon would add texture to your "blog".
F.O.G.I.E. and proud of it.
TCSS.
Art
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ted Bownas on -
Yikes! Say that quietly - or you may find your post deleted... or your whole account... :P
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on -
Holy run-on sentence Batman!!!
(F.O.G.I.E. for life. Or is that lYfe)
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on -
No sense waving a red flag under the bull's nose...or swiss cheese...or ants.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin on -
Feel free to take a look at my blog for ideas,
Kevin
http://www.how-to-become-a-firefighter.blogspot.com/
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on -
For me, the casualness of blogging, or writing/responding to a thread, is in writing in a conversational manner. (Something not always appropriate n a business letter or training manual.) It doesn't mean that one should write in code. Texting abbreviations? No, I use English when I send SMS messages.
Lack of punctuation doesn't mean conversational, when we speak we use punctuation! A comma is a short pause which can also be shown in the spoken language by different inflection. A full-stop ('period' to North America) is a longer pause or change in inflection to denote the end of a set of related stements. Question marks? Spoken once again with inflection - we usually go up in 'tone'. Do we see the connection? When speaking we use differing tonal ranges for punctuation. We use short pauses in speech for punctuation. When speaking face-to-face we also use gestures. How can we use gestures for emphasis when writing? Punctuation maybe?
Is my English perfect? No, perfect doesn't exist. I make typos that I fail to pick up on proof reading. I make spelling mistakes. I may even be grammatically incorrect - but I use grammer as a means of emphasis; am I wrong? Not in my book. Even with all my problems, I think my message gets across. I've only once had an adverse comment about my writing. A business letter I wrote once which was directed to the senior (and I mean senior) management of all the financial institutions in the State. My boss thought I'd used language that they may not understand. My reply? If they have trouble with the way I'm writing, perhaps they shouldn't be in those positions. She said to send it out as drafted.
Where am I heading here? Art, I'm with you. I try to read most posts for most threads. Written in all capitals or all lower case, written without punctuation, written with no indication of changes in direction. Any and all of those and I don't bother. I'm here to learn, to enjoy. Not to work on my skill as a cryptographer!
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on -
I wish you could see... the look on my face when I try to decifer poorly-ritten blog's.
I wish you could see... the muscles tense on my arms as I fight for self control, and delete the nasty response I have written to some bloggers.
I wish you could see... the veins pop out on my neck when I see another "blog" that really only contains a link to some sensational story.
I wish you could see... me racing for the bathroom when I see a blog titled "I Wish You Could See"...
I wish you could see... the smile on my face reading through this discussion.
Thanks Art, we needed this.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on -
This proves that there is still intelligent life hiding on the internet. Now to convince the younger generation that they will use what they learn in school after graduation, or more to the point when communicating with us. If they are not capable of composing a sentence, are they able to read and comprehend a manual? I realize that much of what we do is hands-on-training but they still publish textbooks for a reason. We have one young man in firefighter training who's ability to learn skills does not concern me as much as if he will be able to pass the written exam or to study on his own.
In certian courses at the university where I work, blogging is encouraged or is assigned and graded. It amazes me how many students have no idea how to use a library. All incoming freshmen, returning or nontraditional students are now required to enroll in Uni 101 were they are taught to do research and write papers. However, the "one book" that is required READING for the class is also available on CD.
I find myself abbreviating words like you, be, in, are, see, one, too & for without thinking about it. This is not necessarily a habit formed using text messaging but more from having used speedwriting for many years. My mind thinks "You" but my hand writes "u" on the page. Of course if I transcribe it the same way, spellcheck catches it for me. Ahhh technology!
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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The no child left behind law shines through again based on what you typed there about the new wave of college students. I'm sorry, but in my opinion if someone can't read or do basic math, WHY are they graduating?!?! It repulses me to see people who don't have learning disabilities and yet can't pick up a book and read it without sounding like my son when he was five trying to read, yet they tote around a high school diploma.
The school teachers of today have an easy job now. Any child who just "doesn't get it" no longer requires extra help, they just require a free pass for they will be in another teachers hands next year. Standardized tests taken throughout the country show this through the scores achieved.
Look at most of us. Most of us are years beyond high school, and yet we learned how to blog on the fly. Most of us have maintained a level of intelligence when posting subject matter to a website. Most of us have also maintained the ability to spell, use correct punctuation and grammar. People need to SLOW DOWN and complete thoughts the best they can (correctly) to give everyone the opportunity to enjoy their thoughts without ripping their hair out to uncode it. It really ISN'T that hard to do.
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Permalink Reply by Capt 723 on -
My daughter in the past has not read well. Her reading comprehension has been less than stellar. The school used a program called 'Accelerated Reading' that was supposedly going to improve her reading and comprehension abilities. This girl always started the school year taking a standardized test of her reading abilities and it always indicated that she was struggling with comprehension. The answer put forth by the program was to 'read more'. There was no direction or interaction with anyone who was going to really address the problem, she was just supposed to read more and apparently it was going to just jump right out at her.
If you don't do something well, just do more of it...sounds like a few bloggers we know.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Cap:
Retaining what I read has always been a big problem of mine. What I found is that my mind started wandering while I was reading. Consequently, I was seeing "words", but I wasn't "reading". I was thinking about something else, other than what I was reading. So, I didn't retain it. I would have to go back and read it again.
I have found that, for me to retain what I read, it has to be interesting to me. I have to enjoy it and it has to engage my brain. I have a whole list of stuff, but in your daughter's case, get her stuff that interests her. It should have a spillover effect at some point.
Sometimes, I can't remember what I read 10 minutes ago and yet, I can tell you that Jack Kelly played Bart Maverick, brother to Bret Maverick in the "Maverick" TV series, played by James Garner, who you might remember as Jim Rockford in the TV series, "The Rockford Files". I can remember TV trivia from the 60s, but not who played in the World Series last year. Weird.
The mind is funny sometimes.
TCSS.
Art
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