On blogging, proper grammar and negative comments

I recently encountered something rather amusing in an online bloggers group I frequent. One blogger was very much irked at how a reader criticized a minor grammatical error of hers. Unavoidably, some people began to sympathize and then reassure her that the commenter is just:

                        a. craving for attention

                        b. jealous

                        c. spamming

I have since read the post and the comment and let’s just say I sort of felt sorry for the commenter who actually cared enough to speak his/her mind.

Now I am a self-admitted grammar nazi. Needless to say if I went around the Internet nitpicking about proper grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation I’d probably have an angry mob complete with pitchforks running after me by now. As long as I can actually read and understand what’s posted, I just let it slide.

I think that as in anything that is meant to be read by other people, the very least one can do is well… make it readable. This is why I can’t stand looking at blogs using text speak (Ex: “W8 4 me!” translated into English as “Wait for me!”) or jejemon (Ex: "3ow ph0w, mUsZtAh nA?" translated into Filipino as "Hello po, kamusta na?” or "i wuD LLyK tO knOw moR3 bOut u. crE 2 t3ll mE yur N@me?” translated into English as "I would like to know more about you, care to tell me your name?”). These are the worst of the worst, and even just attempting to read what this mishmash of words, numbers, and symbols is trying to say is enough to give a normal person a seizure.

Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why up until now, traditional media publications like magazines and newspapers still get higher regard compared to blogs. Writers have to submit their works to editors, who in turn make sure that what is written is as perfect as it can be prior to publication. In blogging, the blogger acts as both writer and editor so it’s easier to overlook grammatical errors. One may argue that “It’s my blog and I’ll write however way I want to!” That is well and good, just be prepared to take the flak and stand for it because the Internet is a public domain. What’s to stop people from pointing out your mistakes and telling you (and everyone else who chances upon your post) that your writing is awful? Well, you can always go into denial mode and delete all the negative comments that come your way, but where is the integrity in that? It’s like telling everyone that if you can’t say anything good, then shut up. Readers who actually care about what you have to say will start to feel manipulated because you are curtailing their freedom of speech. Of course, it’s a different story if you’re removing comments that contain profanities or attack you on a personal level.

Okay, back to the criticized blogger. Of course she was exasperated. What person wouldn’t be when faced with a negative comment posted for everyone to see? But then again, what do you expect? Blogging exposes you to practically everyone with Internet access. You can’t venture forth into the worldwide web and expect everyone to agree with everything you put up. The more readers you gain, the more critics you have. If you’re someone who’s easily affected by comments that are less than positive, maybe you should take a step back and reconsider if blogging is for you. Can’t take the heat? Get out of the frying pan.