Hi Chris, All good points. I'd like to add that I'm on a number of technology lists and forums, and I largely read and respond to e-mails based on reputation. By reputation I mean weather the person can write clearly, if there aren't a lot of grammar and spelling errors, and weather or not the e-mails use proper punctuation. Is that unfair?
No. Even using a screen reader like Jaws, NVDA, or Window-Eyes things like spelling errors, grammatical errors, and lack of punctuation make it difficult to listen to a poorly written e-mail. Lack of punctuation means the screen reader won't pause properly between natural sentense breaks and it makes it difficult to listen to the message. Spelling and grammar errors will cause the screen reader to say things incorrectly forcing me to stop the speech and review the line word by word to get the context of the message. If I have to do that with x number of e-mails waiting for me to read I'm just going to throw out and skip anything that requires extra time and effort to read. So my point here is it isn't just a case of sighted people doing this, but there are blind people such as myself who quickly toss out anything that isn't immediately clear from the start as well. Cheers! On 12/17/11, Christopher Bartlett <[email protected]> wrote: > I have a couple of thoughts to add to this otherwise excellent post. > > First of all, if anyone is feeling that all this is intensely unfair, > sighted folk use these same judgment metrics with one another. As someone > who has taught both blind and sighted people how to write resumes and cover > letters, I cannot stress enough to anyone doing this that the appearance of > these documents is as important, perhaps more so, than the content. For an > HR person glancing through a batch of 50 resumes, anything that allows > him/her to reject a resume out of hand is a Godsend, so if it's sloppily put > together, into the circular file it goes unread and the HR person gets to > save a few minutes verifying references or scheduling an interview. Is that > fair? > > Yes it is. The care that one takes in putting together a document of this > sort, or indeed any business communication reflects the care with which one > structures the content. The one acts as a proxy for the other in a > surprisingly tight relationship. I can bet that if a message here or a > document is carelessly put together, then it's almost certainly not worth my > finite time to read, no matter the subject. And that's true for sighted > people and blind. > > Here on the list, we have a unique situation. This isn't quite a business > forum, though it partakes of some of the character of such a beast. It > isn't a personal chat place, though we do that too. So it's some weird, > hybrid beastie that has a culture of its own. That being said, clarity in > communication is still important, particularly as this appears to be a major > hub for people to find out about adaptive gaming, including sighted > developers. That being so, it would profit us all to write clearly and > correctly to the best of our abilities, and where those abilities are > lacking, to invest time and effort to improve them. > > The consequences of failing to do so here are relatively light, you will get > ignored, and possibly mocked. The consequences of doing so out in the world > can make the difference between succeeding in getting a job, making a good > impression on a potential sweetie, or being an effective advocate for > accessibility in software or devices that you need or want to use. > > I would suggest that the proofreading requirement be put back in the > guidelines, and let those who are offended by it go elsewhere. Goodness > knows there are plenty of places on the Internets where they will be > welcome. > > Christopher Bartlett > > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
