Earlier today, I copied and pasted a quotation to use for a prompt. Within that one line was a spelling error. Lesson learned – proofread what you copy and paste. Out of the first fifteen people who read it, no one pointed it out. Either they didn’t notice the error or they were being kind.
I know for certain that at least one person saw it. But even they decided to keep it to themselves. This made me realize just how kind people can be. They’re not quick to point out peoples’ errors, but instead appreciate their efforts.
This also made me wonder if as a blogger, would you rather people keep silent about your errors or point them out to you? Keeping silent about them would allow possibly hundreds of people to see the mistake, whereas speaking up gives us the opportunity to make corrections.
As much as I appreciate the kindness people showed today, I think I’d rather have the error pointed out to me. Because let’s face it, there’s nothing worse than having something hanging out of your nose and no one tells you about it.
Me - Who am I? 
I would appreciate it if it was brought to my attention through an email. I would not correct anyone’s grammar or spelling in the comments. I think it would come across as condescending, but that is just me.
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I agree. It would definitely have to be done carefully and with tact.
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Haha! It really is kind of like having food stuck between your teeth or something, isn’t it? I never really thought about it that way before. I think it depends what it is. A little typo is fine, but I’ve actually had the overzealous type who have pointed out every flaw in my grammar… that’s just annoying. So yeah, for the little stuff, fine. Having said that, I very rarely if ever point out people’s mistakes unless I’m asked to. Some people just don’t like it at all.
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That’s true. Some people may take it too far. There’s certainly a line that we should be careful not to cross. I’m the same as you, I rarely, if ever point out mistakes that I find.
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I have caught my own typos MONTHS after I’ve written a post. 😉 I seldom ever catch someone else’s typos. I wouldn’t mind if someone pointed an error out to me. But if someone doesn’t point it out and glazes over something because it’s a typo, I don’t mind either. I’m eazy peazy on this one. 😉
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Same here, and it embarrasses me a little when I find them. It’s good that you are open to both. Like you, I suppose I don’t mind if they do, or if they don’t.
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Someone once asked me why I didn’t notify them of a typo in their blog. I had to tell them I didn’t even notice it. I read the blog and got the message and replied. I had to go back and reread it to see what she was talking about. I read so much during the day that I often just let my brain adjust to what it thinks it’s supposed to be reading. This may not be a good idea….. but it happens. 😉
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I’ve actually been wondering about the kindness of bloggers here lately. I never see any negative comments. Like, ever. Maybe it’s just the bloggers I follow or maybe the negativity is filtered? I don’t know. Any insight?
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After a couple years here, I’d say that the majority of bloggers are very kind. The others are few and far between, but do occasionally pop up.
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If someone reads my blog and finds an error, whether spelling, grammatical, punctuation, or usage, I have no problem with them pointing it out to me. In fact, I appreciate their pointing it out to me so that I can correct it. That said, I am reluctant to correct such errors made by others. It’s hard to say how people will react to such a correction. Will they take it constructively or will they be insulted and angry. So unless it’s something egregious, I am unlikely to point it out.
On the other hand, if someone makes a factual error, or states an opinion as if it’s fact, or uncritically passes on misleading or inaccurate information, you bet your bippy I’ll call them out for it.
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Same here. I’d prefer that someone point it out so that I can correct it. But also, like you, I worry about how others would respond if I were to point out their errors, so I normally don’t. With that said Doobster, feel free to let me know if you ever see errors in my writing.
What? You? No, that doesn’t sound like you at all. 🙂 On a serious note, that’s a good quality to have. People who are reporting incorrect information need to be corrected.
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I keep my mouth shut because I am probably one of the biggest ‘rule breakers’. There are times that I edit, and miss a word here or there so the sentence makes little sense. I’m pretty sure others understand that I didn’t mean to do that. I’m not a writer so it doesn’t bother me if I make a writing snafu. However, I really hate it when I goof up on two, too, and to. Sometimes the wrong usage of they’re, there, or their haunts me. It’s usually because I edited and didn’t pay attention to the complete sentence. So…if I were a writer, I may want to have another set of eyes to edit. But I’m going with the wise words of my daughter…”it’s your blog, why does it matter? So what.”
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Those are wise words indeed. It is a blog, not a novel. We’re allowed to mess up here and there. I just don’t like to. Missing words is one of my biggest mistakes too. I type slower than I think, so words get missed. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who edits partial sentences. Afterwards, I always run into “the the”. And I use waaay too many commas. But, I think your daughter is right.
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I’m not going to pretend, I hate messing up, but I’m not perfect. 🙂
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The great part about that is, none of us are. 🙂
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Doobster and Chatter said what I was thinking. Now that I know you are receptive, I would have no problem but others will take that as a challenge to call you out on your work in turn.
I think I only corrected one blogger directly via email because the typo in her title was embarrassing and changed the context of her post and I didn’t want to call her out on it in front of others. I can’t even remember what it was now though!
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Excellent point. I certainly wouldn’t want someone reading for the sole purpose of looking for mistakes.
That’s a very kind way of going about it. I do think that email is probably the best way. None of us want to be embarrassed in front of others. With that said however, I did mention a correction in a comment once, but asked that they please remove the comment after they read it. I don’t recall seeing an email address on their blog though.
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If the error hadn’t been in the title and hadn’t been an inappropriate word for a serious post, I woudn’t have emailed them. It was a blogger who encouraged email so luckily I had that. Anything in the blog, I leave alone or poke fun at (depending on the subject and the blogger, of course).
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Aside from that one time where it was an obvious and possibly embarrassing mistake that they had made, I leave it alone as well. There’s really no point in pointing out the mistakes of others, especially since we all make our own. Of course, the exception would be if they ask us to. Even then, I’d be hesitant.
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I don’t correct what is in quotes because it isn’t my work, it’s someone else’s. I quote right from the source as it is. Albeit, I try my best to catch the errors I make, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get all of them. Yes, I want to be told about all those that I miss, as long as there aren’t any opinionated statement with it. Those hurt.
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I would much rather know and I’d have to fix the error immediately. I would be, and have been, very grateful when an error was pointed out to me.
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I agree with you and also appreciate when people point them out to me, as long as it’s done in a kind and helpful manner. I’ve read old posts with errors and cringe, wishing someone would have caught it.
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