I don't proofread...sorry.

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 5:30 PM 1/4/96, Jim Ray wrote:

>As to the "English lesson," I feel that proofreading messages to
>1200+ people is more important than proofing private e-mail, but
>some folks evidently disagree with me. For an example of posts
>which I feel are properly proofed, please see Tim's posts. They
>aren't perfect English (mine aren't either) but there's evidence
>that he takes the time to proofread them. This not only makes
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>his posts easier to read, it makes them [IMO] more convincing.
>Of course, I usually agree with Tim anyway. [Hi Tim] I'll shut

Thanks for the positive comments, but I need to clear the air about this
"proofreading" business: I usually don't proofread my posts.

I write 'em as fast as I think 'em, then I send 'em!

A few of my longer essays I've proofed, reworked, etc., but mostly I just
respond by typing directly and then sending. I no longer even use a
spelling checker, in fact.

This can probably be guessed by some of you, as I sometimes leave out
words, which careful proofing would normally catch. I figure that informal
communications are tolerant to such informal usages.

I also tend to write in a conversational style, so the agonized structuring
and restructuring that some writers apparently feel they must go through
does not enter in to my own writing. (I'm a relatively fast typist, and am
comfortable composing at the keyboard, which not everone is, of course.)

One thing I try to scrupulously check are the distribution list and the
other message headers, usually because I edit down the distribution list
and sometimes to change the thread title to something more closely related
to my actual message (as I have done here).

--Tim May


We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
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