I sometimes indulge in accepting/rejecting proposed edits to questions. What amazes me is the suggested edits where woeful English goes ignored and yet some code gets formatted. Naturally I then feel obliged to make an edit of my own. Typically I put some paragraphs in, sprinkle in some punctuation, remove the 'plz hlp' from the end and so on. Then I click whatever the 'save' button is to find out that the suggested edits have already been accepted. So low-quality English is obviously fine then!!!
I am also surprised at how many suggested edits are anti-pattern. Quite often there will be a question where the original starts with 'I am...' and someone has suggested changing that to 'I'm...'. Er.. No!!! It would truly annoy me if my own questions (written 'BBC Style Guide') were reduced to pigeon English in such soul destroying ways.
Added to your proposal, and wherever you are able to get with it, something simple can be done with the questions at time of entry. Much like the BBC has a Style Guide for their journalists to live by, so should Stack Overflow. There should also be some basic checks against it when someone asks a question. If the question contains 'plz' as a word and it is not in a code block then that should trigger some 'read the style guide before you ask questions' response.
I do understand that the site is for everyone regardless of ability with written English, however, a little note saying "in formal English we use 'I am...' instead of 'I'm...'" would actually be useful to know for anyone that does not have English as their first language.
Let's take a real world example:
Hello I started making an aplication on adroid, it's a simble BMI Calculator. The aplication has 2 activities (Main with a menu, and BMICalculator with the widgets).
That opening 'Hello' and the spellinz of adenoids and thimble should just make this question an instant reject. Plain and simple.
Next real world example:
my if query doesn't work. I'm always getting the invalid class. No matter if the file is an jpeg, png or txt.
Suggested edit has added extra code to provide some context.:
my if query doesn't work. I'm always getting the invalid class. No matter if the file is an jpeg, png or txt.
$('#some-input-file').change(function(e) {
This is a useful contribution, but the start of the question should be 'My' and not 'my'. This is basic primary school English that has been ignored.
So, to conclude, a lot of SO problems are garbage in, garbage out. A little bit of English language grammar and spelling - as has existed in basic versions of Word since the Windows 2.0 days - would help out enormously.
I am all for plain speaking English which in my mind is different to the English that people use for txts and is different to the convoluted English people use to show off (e.g. using big words and long sentences when something to the point will suffice).
However, Stack Overflow is a reference work, and, for questions to have value to a wider audience, they do have to be to a certain standard. It is the same with Wikipedia, you don't get lazy lols plz txt spk in articles found there. People need to appreciate this when asking questions. Basic secondary school level English is all that is asked for, not anything more.
I have problems with how the 'edits' is game-ified in such a way that crimes of the English language pass the process. I also think that something could be done when questions are submitted to raise the bar.
I appreciate that people need an answer quick, so fwr kstrks and tipos mightnt mater to them but I don't see how the 'agreed on' forms of English, as taught at school, counts as pedantry. You should try being a moderator one day...
I am also surprised at how many suggested edits are anti-pattern. Quite often there will be a question where the original starts with 'I am...' and someone has suggested changing that to 'I'm...'. Er.. No!!! It would truly annoy me if my own questions (written 'BBC Style Guide') were reduced to pigeon English in such soul destroying ways.
Added to your proposal, and wherever you are able to get with it, something simple can be done with the questions at time of entry. Much like the BBC has a Style Guide for their journalists to live by, so should Stack Overflow. There should also be some basic checks against it when someone asks a question. If the question contains 'plz' as a word and it is not in a code block then that should trigger some 'read the style guide before you ask questions' response.
I do understand that the site is for everyone regardless of ability with written English, however, a little note saying "in formal English we use 'I am...' instead of 'I'm...'" would actually be useful to know for anyone that does not have English as their first language.
Let's take a real world example:
Hello I started making an aplication on adroid, it's a simble BMI Calculator. The aplication has 2 activities (Main with a menu, and BMICalculator with the widgets).
That opening 'Hello' and the spellinz of adenoids and thimble should just make this question an instant reject. Plain and simple.
Next real world example:
my if query doesn't work. I'm always getting the invalid class. No matter if the file is an jpeg, png or txt.
Suggested edit has added extra code to provide some context.:
my if query doesn't work. I'm always getting the invalid class. No matter if the file is an jpeg, png or txt.
$('#some-input-file').change(function(e) {
This is a useful contribution, but the start of the question should be 'My' and not 'my'. This is basic primary school English that has been ignored.
So, to conclude, a lot of SO problems are garbage in, garbage out. A little bit of English language grammar and spelling - as has existed in basic versions of Word since the Windows 2.0 days - would help out enormously.