I'm going to guess
that the various spelling and grammer errors in this post are intentional to bring the pedants (such as my 'umble self) out of the woodwork. So I'm not going to rise to the bait. I do agree with son of sam - most of the time it's not the occasional spelling error that people get pedantic about. It's, as you describe, the long, badly written posts where one word in three is misspelled.

Some people are genuinely dyslexic, but the vast majority of people just never took the time to learn the basic (and I mean basic) rules of spelling and puctuation. It's not hard. If you can learn to drive a car with all the expense and difficulty that that entails then the least you can do is learn, say, where to put an apostrophe. Surely?

You may say that "I didn't do very well at school, teacher hated me, so I never learned to spell properly." Well, guess what? Unless you left school yesterday school was a long time ago. Think of all the things you have learned to do since you left school. Are you really saying that you couldn't have learned some basic English skills in the meantime?

I went to your everyday, grotty comprehensive school. I didn't enjoy the experience and I came out with average GCSEs. But I can spell. I know the difference between "their" and "there" and "where" and "were". It's not hard, it's just taking a bit of time to learn it. Are you seriously saying that you're incapable of that?

Why should those of us who know how to use the English language be made to feel like scum for just picking people up on their spelling? Tell me why.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:33, 3 replies)

I don't think scarpe's errors were intentional
But you are breaking the first rule of being a pedant on the internet:

Make sure your rant about it is spelt 100% correctly!!

*grammar
*punctuation

5/10, see me after class.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:36, closed)

oooh
I missed an "n" out of a word! Yes, I fell into the trap, but you're missing the point that I agreed with you about - the occasional misspelled word - ok. Whole posts worth of misspelled words - bad.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:41, closed)

You missed an n
and misspelt another word (and the grammar was pretty sloppy in places, but I let you off that).

But when you are ranting in such a fashion about how amazing you are at spelling, nothing less than 100% perfection is acceptable...
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:44, closed)

I didn't say I was "amazing"
I said I could spell. If I had time I would proof read a lot more closely, but THAT WASN'T MY POINT! And I was agreeing with you about how it's generally not the occasional mistake that gets picked up. And you're blowing that argument out the water.

Fuck's sake.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:50, closed)

I know!
But my point is, when being pedantic, you have to make sure you are actually correct. Or people like me will pick you up on it!

My tolerance for spelling errors in a post boasting about how good you are at spelling is far, far lower than it would be in a normal post.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:52, closed)

294 words in my post.
2 of them are spelled wrong. Pretty good for typing fast so that my boss doesn't notice!
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:57, closed)

You must be pig sick...
...that the two you misspelt were "grammar" and "punctuation" though, eh?

Certainly made me chuckle. ;)
(.click, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 12:36, closed)

Apostrophes
Are awesome.

The proper use of them makes what you write appear much fluffier.

The incorrect use of them make's me want's to burn's you's at the s'take.

Cheer's
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:38, closed)

Actually
I am not saying I am incapable. The mistakes I make are generally through laziness. I know the difference between 'their' and 'there', I just sometimes automatically type the wrong one.

I tend not to proof read my posts here, it's a message board, it's informal. If I'm doing something for work, I will go over it time and time again to make sure I haven't let anything slip through.

Here? Nah, don't have the time nor inclination.

And, to be fair, I was only saying it was hypocrisy if on the one hand you are 'Daily Mail readers are intolerant scum' and on the other you are 'Oh you stupid retard, don't you know that it's its not it's'.

Edit: I just proof read a couple of your top answers. You're not really on very solid ground here.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:40, closed)

Fine, fair point
I do, however, think there's a big difference between being intollerant in a "Arrggh! The immigrants are coming" type way and being intollerent in a "you don't need an apostrophe on the word banana's" type way.

Edit: Still missing the point. Just like you, I type quickly - sometimes mistakes are made. But it's not those types of mistakes that are generally pointed out. "Ooh, you typed HUOSE. Don't you know it's spelled HOUSE you retard?" That doesn't happen.

If you can find more than 10% of words misspelled in my previous posts then I'll eat my shoes. Seriously.
(MrC. Having the most boring username on b3ta since 2004, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:44, closed)

Well yeah,
of course there is.

I had my tongue a little in my cheek. This is B3ta.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 11:46, closed)

I think you'll find
it's intolerant.
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Thu 26 Feb 2009, 12:41, closed)