Do you feel like writing posts on messageboards (Sherdog) improves your writing / communication?

[Beaver Brownlee]

More than anything it makes me famous.

 

[HomeRun916]

It’s helped me craft my shit posting skills.

 

[jlagman]

I'd argue that it does, depending on how much effort you put into it. Not that I take Sherdog too seriously, but I made a conscious decision not to get too lazy, even while communicating with strangers on a karate forum.

 

[minute bull]

Wat

 

[Tycho- Taylor's Version]

The number of people who communicate through casual written prose nowadays is vanishingly small (not counting tweets, texts, or corporate emails, obviously).

Posting here absolutely helps my writing. It's some of the only writing I do that's purely for fun, and takes me out of the stifling boxes I'm more often writing within. Sort of like really short letters.

Just reading posts by some of the more stylistic boneheads in here (like the one above me) helps on its own.

 

[TSO]

We mash out a lot of characters going back and forth on here, and others are doing the same on other forums, reddit, social media etc...
Do you feel like this exercise in typing makes people "swim or drown" so to speak in that you'll be repeatedly writing and theoretically building up some level of proficiency because it's the de facto method of communication online? Or would you say that it's regressive and allows for unchecked free form rambling that can be shorthand, slang, nonsensical, gifs in place of words etc...?

All communication improves your communication skill.

 

[Zer]

Internet has definitely streamlined my shit. Now I don't take myself very seriously and I try to be snappy above everything else. Brevity is the soul of wit and shit like that. When I first started out I was a waffling asshole, always posting massive walls of text full of heavy vocab thinking I was a philosopher poet from the 18th century or some shit. But eventually I found out I could get way bigger pops making fun of my own dick in a few words

I also learnt how to post convincingly as a chick but nowadays with webcams and voicechat being everywhere it's a tough gig

 

[BisexualMMA]

Internet has definitely streamlined my shit. Now I don't take myself very seriously and I try to be snappy above everything else. Brevity is the soul of wit and shit like that. When I first started out I was a waffling asshole, always posting massive walls of text full of heavy vocab thinking I was a philosopher poet from the 18th century or some shit. But eventually I found out I could get way bigger pops making fun of my own dick in a few words

I also learnt how to post convincingly as a chick but nowadays with webcams and voicechat being everywhere it's a tough gig

Damn man, I want a leather bound copy of early Zer philosophical musings.

 

[Phr3121]

Do you feel like writing posts on Sherdog improves your writing / communication?

Yes.
Not so much the writing as the debating and research. How to articulate my thoughts and point of view. I usually re-read what I have posted and do catch mistakes in grammar and expression. I'm glad we have an 'edit' option. I still have problems with some of the acronyms that people use. Have to look them up. Learned a lot of new things through some of the posts and topics.

 

[Phr3121]

Sherdog already spell checks for you. The 'red' line under a word. I believe it works for everyone regardless of membership. Still, people misspell words all the time. Yeah, I realize some of you are drunk when you post, but some of the sober ones fuck up just as much. Read your stuff before you click 'post'. Not that difficult...

 

[HUGHPHUG]

We mash out a lot of characters going back and forth on here, and others are doing the same on other forums, reddit, social media etc...
Do you feel like this exercise in typing makes people "swim or drown" so to speak in that you'll be repeatedly writing and theoretically building up some level of proficiency because it's the de facto method of communication online? Or would you say that it's regressive and allows for unchecked free form rambling that can be shorthand, slang, nonsensical, gifs in place of words etc...?

I think it can be both, but you see how many people actually put effort into their posts are either derided or simply met with TLDR.
Also so many people post from phones and tablets etc, that they don't even need to spell words most of the time.

I write a lot, but not on here, I have some issues with my memory and the output from my brain to my mouth that are as yet unresolved, and I find writing helps me immensely.
I also avoid auto correct and pre-emptive text where I can as I can feel myself getting dumbed down using it

 

[Jack Stevonovich]

Internet has definitely streamlined my shit. Now I don't take myself very seriously and I try to be snappy above everything else. Brevity is the soul of wit and shit like that. When I first started out I was a waffling asshole, always posting massive walls of text full of heavy vocab thinking I was a philosopher poet from the 18th century or some shit. But eventually I found out I could get way bigger pops making fun of my own dick in a few words

I also learnt how to post convincingly as a chick but nowadays with webcams and voicechat being everywhere it's a tough gig

I actually learned a lot from your posts on how to approach life because not long ago I was taking things too seriously and investing in trying to get a point across and then I started to realize, largely from trolls, that a lot of peoples thing is to get people invested in some sort of argument where everyone loses time and energy and that crafting little jokes is actually a much more effective way to maintain composure in the face of other peoples bullshit. I kind of saw your posting style as a way to avoid the drama and a different way of approaching things.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I actually learned a lot from your posts on how to approach life because not long ago I was taking things too seriously and investing in trying to get a point across and then I started to realize, largely from trolls, that a lot of peoples thing is to get people invested in some sort of argument where everyone loses time and energy and that crafting little jokes is actually a much more effective way to maintain composure in the face of other peoples bullshit. I kind of saw your posting style as a way to avoid the drama and a different way of approaching things.

"Foreword by Jack Stenovich"

 

[moreorless87]

Internet has definitely streamlined my shit. Now I don't take myself very seriously and I try to be snappy above everything else. Brevity is the soul of wit and shit like that. When I first started out I was a waffling asshole, always posting massive walls of text full of heavy vocab thinking I was a philosopher poet from the 18th century or some shit. But eventually I found out I could get way bigger pops making fun of my own dick in a few words

I also learnt how to post convincingly as a chick but nowadays with webcams and voicechat being everywhere it's a tough gig

I used to play TFC(halflife mod) with a guy who posed as a woman in some online roleplaying game of the era(Dark of Age Camelot I think), joined up to groups of horny teenage boys clan's and then robbed them(in game) blind.

In terms of posting I'd say it goes both ways, posting online sharpens the wit and debating skills plus as you say cuts down on waffle but equally its probably not the best practice for serious writing. The worst thing is probably having to include "I think" or "In my opinion" constantly to avoid flame wars although I know I used words like "basically" far too often as well now.

 

[Clear Winner]

I find that reading bad grammar and spelling online slips into my own. At the very least it has had me 2nd guessing how I spell things.

 

[moreorless87]

I actually learned a lot from your posts on how to approach life because not long ago I was taking things too seriously and investing in trying to get a point across and then I started to realize, largely from trolls, that a lot of peoples thing is to get people invested in some sort of argument where everyone loses time and energy and that crafting little jokes is actually a much more effective way to maintain composure in the face of other peoples bullshit. I kind of saw your posting style as a way to avoid the drama and a different way of approaching things.

I'd say the main thing to learn is the difference between playful trolling and when your dealing with a narcissistic asshole, the latter is going to stay aggressive regardless as its generally the only reason there online at all.

Generally though I do tend to stick the Louie Theroux method, keep a more level head and stick to the truth and you'll generally win an argument with someone showing stronger bias who will be tripped up on their own falsehoods pretty quickly.

 

[irish_thug]

Fuck no.

I do find my typing speeds up in PBP threads.

 

[phoenixikki]

It depends. You can learn new arguments that support your thoughts from people with similar opinions. But to debate in real life and to debate online it's just not comparable. In real life you have to be fast and precise, whereas online you have all the time to reply and all the sources in the world to illustrate your reasoning more convincingly.
One of the things that I've learned here is not to take things so seriously. Even if you have a very strong opinion about something, sometimes it does not matter how well you present it in a discussion the opposite side will not even try to see things from your perspective.
So now I just to have fun while trying to get my message across. Having serious controversial opinions can cause people to lose their shit. Watching such meltdowns can be very fun.

 

[-Magua-]

Helps maintain my wit, but I’m not perfunctory in speech or written communication Irl.
Pretty much on point with being affable, speech, and so forth.

On a daily basis professionally I can’t be that facetious or sarcastic with clients or employees, so it helps me let loose and relax By talking playful shit about much to do with nuthin.

 

[taurus]

Very much so. This is the only forum I frequent (semi)regularly and the only forum in which I write more than a standard one sentence reply. And although I write in English language for a living, being a non-native speaker limits my ability to communicate (in English) on certain topics on a daily basis.

It may be my age and coming to terms with acceptance of others regardless of their opposing opinion on some matters (I often tended to be abrupt and dismissive in those situations in my younger days), but I do feel sherdog.net has helped me immensely to read, process, organize and coherently present my thoughts on a topic, instead of a classic young lad kneejerk reaction.

I still find myself posting gif replies, and my English grammar knowledge was/is beyond repair, but still. Vocabulary, eloquence, debating abilities and self-reflection are the areas I believe were/are improved the most (not saying I'm satisfied or that I have the abilities similar to a native speaker in those areas).

The worst thing is probably having to include "I think" or "In my opinion" constantly to avoid flame wars although I know I used words like "basically" far too often as well now.

Same thing. Here and reddit, I use "IMO" abundantly. As you said, it's to avoid unnecessary flame wars.

Internet has definitely streamlined my shit. Now I don't take myself very seriously and I try to be snappy above everything else. Brevity is the soul of wit and shit like that. When I first started out I was a waffling asshole, always posting massive walls of text full of heavy vocab thinking I was a philosopher poet from the 18th century or some shit.

This is something I still struggle with. If I come across a troll, I'll usually go forward with a massive block of text, and only realize it's a troll somewhere around 5th or 6th post, then turn on the laconic phrasing. I gotta stop wasting energy like that.