Horrendous spelling on ATS... a sign of the times?

I have been reading ATS long before I created an account here, and I remember how I was always so impressed by the level of intelligence of the members here. It felt like I was a young teenager hanging out with 50 year old professors who knew so much about the world.

Fast forward to the last year or so... it is completely different now. Practically every post I read is littered with ridiculous spelling errors and most of the posts are no more than 1 or 2 lines with a bunch of exclamation points and smiley faces as if it's some text message to a middle school friend.

What has happened to this place? Is it purposefully being infiltrated by idiots? Or is their agenda of "dumbing down" the public working so beautifully that even so-called "conspiracy-minded" people come across as fools?

Oh dear !

It looks like one of the spelling Nazis has returned.

reply to post by Diplomat


OMG! I just put this same comment on my comment page. It seems like 8 year olds are typing on this website. READ IT BEFORE YOU POST!

reply to post by Silver Shadow


It's much deeper than just spelling. The terrible spelling is a sign of something much more intricate, I'm afraid.

reply to post by Diplomat


I don't think there is an agenda of dumbing people down, on the contrary I think people are becoming smarter so much smarter that other people's stupidity becomes apparent and stings like sunlight to a vampire. A few hundred years ago hardly anyone could read in the general population. I know it can be tempting to feel like everyone around you is a drooling dunce but really we are getting smarter, statistically anyway... Even if they are trying to dumb people down the Internet is a tool that can help negate those effects.

Good spelling isn't always indicative of intelligence anyway. For instance I have pretty good spelling but I often make glaring grammatical errors (I wouldn't know how to use a semi-colon to save my life ) but in other subjects I'm smarter than most people.

For me it all leads back to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, there are different versions of intelligence, its not just black and white low or high IQ:

Multiple Intelligences

[edit on 25-3-2010 by Titen-Sxull]

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


You don't think there is an agenda of dumbing people down?

WOW... I won't even read the rest of your post, as immature as that is. If you don't understand that there is a full-on agenda to dumb-down the public then I don't even really know what to say to you. You have a lot to learn still about all this "conspiracy" stuff.

You want to know why i can't spell?

Because in grade one I was put into a Special Learning class that focused on our needs, and apparently, at the time, spelling wasn't one of the main concerns for me to make it in life.

so for the next 8 years, i probably only had 4 - 6 spelling tests, and thats only because i asked to stay for regular english on that day.

i hate the schooling system i was put threw, i believe i was capable of learning so much more with the right teaching.


[edit on 25-3-2010 by sv_gravity 800]

Naturally I have checked your post for spelling mistakes, and can't find any.... so good for you.

I'm from the old school that tries to make sure spelling is correct but like you I notice there appears to be less importance placed on it these days ... so much so that now I don't care anymore.

Those that really don't care will shoot you down in flames for suggesting that correct spelling means anything at all.

Shame really.

Originally posted by Diplomat
It felt like I was a young teenager hanging out with 50 year old professors ...

Oh dear ... mmmk ...

Let's move on to the spelling issue, for it bears less pitfalls.

If it wasn't for spellcheck on teh browser I'd be useless, txt talk is slightly irritating but kids today with their MTV and boom boxes ... what you gonna do?

Meh, if I had to choose I'd rather read a badly spelled epiphany that an impeccably spelled repetition.

Reading this i can fully believe they would try to dumb down future population to have more controle with less people knowing there actually is someone in control.

Looking back at my schooling, its obvious they didn't want to make a genious out of me.

reply to post by Diplomat


Dumb people down on what level?

I find it ignorant in the extreme to dismiss the rest of my post based on your own opinion that there's an agenda to dumb people down. Perhaps there is an agenda to deceive via propaganda, that I will agree to, but to say there is an agenda to make people dumber than they used to be? I don't think so... I think thanks to the internet and the massive strides in science and technology made in the last 100 years this is the most intelligent era yet. Now I'll agree we aren't nearly as smart as we could and perhaps SHOULD be, and maybe there is an agenda to SLOW our rising intelligence via mind-numbing media (Dancing with the Stars - SHUDDER - ). Like I said in my last post the internet can negate those effects. Knowledge is a click away.

reply to post by Diplomat


I don't see it as any concerted 'conspiracy'.

You hit the nail, there, in your headline. "...a sign of the times."

Nonw of is perfect, of course. See?

But, this is the reality of PDAs, Twitter, e-mail, Facebook, and that dreaded scourge (but sometimes useful, friendly place) "YouTube".

To name just a few....or maim just a pew.

So, they're, they're, relacks. Gonna get worse, afore it gits any beter...

(AND, of course, allowances for non-native English speakers and writers, as always. Spellcheck can't catch every mistake, even for the best-intentioned).


However, I do agree with ONE aspect of this irritation: Thread titles. At the very least, perhaps people will take some time to accurately spell and format, and check for grammar. Writing off the cuff, in a post can lead to minor errors, but a thread headline stays for a LONG time, and is a banner to the rest of the online world, so to speak....



[edit on 25 March 2010 by weedwhacker]

If anyone does not think there is an agenda to dumb down the public, then please, by all means, LOOK INTO IT... because it is real.

They aren't just doing it via the media and education, they are doing it with actual CHEMICALS. It is a full-on assault on the public's capability to think critically.

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


It is not my "opinion" that the public is being purposefully dumbed-down, it is a FACT.

And yes, I already admitted that it was immature to not read the rest of your post, but that is my choice.

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


It could very well be possible, the entire time i was in public school we recived 0 funding towards new books, equipment, class trips, ect....

Once i reached grade 8, i was using grade 8 mathamatics that have been there since i was in grade one.

I've noticed some of what you are talking about. Explanation points should be kept at a max of two. Just be wise about emotion icons.

reply to post by weedwhacker


Yes, it is a "sign of the times." Are you trying to say the typical "things just are the way they are because that's just how things are?" Because no, things are not supposed to be the way they are, they have been CAREFULLY ENGINEERED to be this way. Kids today are taught that history all unfolds coincidentally, when the reality is the complete opposite.

reply to post by Diplomat


i can fully believe it.

is not like i'll be walking around the reast of my life promoting this is whats going on, but i will remember it for sure and share this information with people who deserv to know (which i guess is everyone, but not everyone likes this type of information)

reply to post by sv_gravity 800


I want to say this ... I hate the liberal folk who say that things like spelling are not important. Then we hear from people like you who it turns out would prefer if someone had taken the trouble to teach you things correctly.

My wife and I often discuss this subject. She used to work in a school and whereas the teachers did not put much effort into the kids, my wife as only a school helper and not doing it for the money so much as doing it because she liked working with kids, she would check them for lots of things like their grammar and their manners and things like that. You know what, the kids loved her. It was as if they desired somebody to teach them things.

For me this is where the liberals just don't get it. Youngsters are crying out for somebody, anybody, to show them the right way.

reply to post by Phlynx


I'm cornfused....

To much

When pointing to the emoticons, did you intend to write "to munch" ??

Or, was it "too much" ??

I think "to munch" is brilliantly funny, but that's just me. (not "I").