Why is there such bad spelling and grammar on the Internet?

Answer 1

Many people have poor English language skills. This is especially true here on an internet site where visitors come from around the world. Moreover, the format of WikiAnswers can be confusing to new visitors. For technical reasons and to keep questions as simple as possible. We do not allow multi-part or compound sentences. No special characters are allowed: no colons, semicolons, parantheses, exclamation marks, percentage signs, dollars signs, etc. Even commas are not allowed. Please consider helping out by editing questions or answers that seem confusing or have grammatical errors, thereby making said questions and answers more easily understood.

Answer 2

That's how WikiAnswers works. If you see an obvious mistake or other error, you can correct it. Please contribute your knowledge to help this question be correctly answered. Answers are written completely by volunteers.

Answer 3

Not every question is filled with spelling and/or grammatical errors. Since questions can be asked by every one in the world, there is bound to be someone who either aren't very good at English, didn't pass English in school, or just do not bother to correctly use the English language, so they shortcut by making spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Not every person in the world is perfect at spelling and/or grammar, and since anyone in the world can ask a question, there are bound to be grammatical errors and/or mistakes.

Answer 4

Sometimes they are just using computer talk, or don't know how to spell, or how to use a spell checker. Some people cannot be bothered writing correctly, and don't consider the reader and whether they will understand what is written.

Answer 5

...because any dummy can buy a computer but not every computer owner possesses a good command of the English language.

An alternate answer is to look at our school system and things such as No Child Left Behind.

Another alternate answer is to blame text messaging

And younger generations seem to think it's cool to seem uneducated on the net using bad grammer.

Answer 6

Most questions are usually very well written and provide necessary detail to properly answer. Some questions are written poorly because the person may be rushing or not actually expect an answer (much like yours).

Answer 7

Not EVERYONE on this site knows all about the grammar rules, since this is the English part of our website, and English being the second hardest if not the first hardest language in the world, there is a lot of rules to learn, so it takes a lot of time to learn such things. For the most part, if an answer or question has bad grammar within the question, flag it for 'needs grammar/spelling improvement'.

Answer 8

There are several reasons why this could be:

• English is not everyone's first language.
  Answers.com is an international community that welcomes people of all backgrounds, we do not discriminate or exclude anybody.
  
  
• There are medical conditions that affect hand motor skills such as typing.
  For example, Parkinson's Disease, Essential Tremor and Shellshock or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Again, we do not discriminate our community members.
  
  
• There are learning difficulties which affect some people.
  For example, Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD). These difficulties are, like the other points above, are uncontrollable by the person writing the question.
  
  
• Typing too quickly.
  Sometimes people panic, especially when asking medical questions or they are worried about someone or an animal, leading them to make typos. Other times people are too upset to concentrate properly, for example someone who is asking a question about grieving or relationship troubles.
  
  
• Laziness.
  Sometimes it is purely because of laziness. The individual may not feel too bothered about correcting their grammar or they use that awful "text speak".

There is a team of people on Answers.com who do go through as many questions and answers as they can to improve the quality of them. However do bear in mind that there are millions of daily international visitors to this website, and the quality fixers cannot be everywhere at once, they are only human.

Visitors and members can help us by bringing badly-spelt questions and answers to our attention. They can do this by clicking the flag which is next to the question itself and selecting the reason why they are reporting it as grammar-related.
You could consider signing up for the WikiReviewers Program here, which deals with the quality of the site's content, to lend a hand.It is voluntary.
You could also apply to become a Supervisor (moderator) in the community and help us that way.

Answer 9

There are several reasons why this could be:

• English is not everyone's first language.
  Answers.com is an international community that welcomes people of all backgrounds, we do not discriminate or exclude anybody.
  
  
• There are medical conditions that affect hand motor skills such as typing.
  For example, Parkinson's Disease, Essential Tremor and Shellshock or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Again, we do not discriminate our community members.
  
  
• There are learning difficulties which affect some people.
  For example, Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD). These difficulties are, like the other points above, are uncontrollable by the person writing the question.
  
  
• Typing too quickly.
  Sometimes people panic, especially when asking medical questions or they are worried about someone or an animal, leading them to make typos. Other times people are too upset to concentrate properly, for example someone who is asking a question about grieving or relationship troubles.
  
  
• Laziness.
  Sometimes it is purely because of laziness. The individual may not feel too bothered about correcting their grammar or they use that awful "text speak".

As a registered member, you can and are welcome to help us improve things by making a minor edit to answers where necessary.

There is a team of people on Answers.com who do go through as many questions and answers as they can to improve the quality of them. However do bear in mind that there are millions of daily international visitors to this website, and the quality fixers cannot be everywhere at once, they are only human.

Visitors and members can help us by bringing badly-spelt questions and answers to our attention. They can do this by clicking the flag which is next to the question itself and selecting the reason why they are reporting it as grammar-related.
You could consider signing up for the WikiReviewers Program here, which deals with the quality of the site's content, to lend a hand.It is voluntary.
You could also apply to become a Supervisor (moderator) in the community and help us that way.

Answer 10

Good question. Lazy children playing around would be my guess.