How would you approach a poster with a difficult to read posting style?

[JenJay]

Personally, I don't really mind how other people write and it isn't usually difficult for me to follow their post with the exceptions of a lot of text-speak and initials for named people if there are more than 2 or 3 folks in the story.

I won't automatically skip the post but if I have to go back and re-read a sentence more than twice, or if I have to re-read most of the sentences in the post, I'll hit the back button and move on. I can think of only a handful of times that's happened, and there aren't any posters I avoid regularly.

I've never contacted an OP regarding their writing style and I don't think I'd be comfortable doing so. That said, as for my own posts, if I continuously write in a way that is difficult for people to read I am completely unaware and would appreciate a friendly heads-up PM. 

[padua]

thanks. i'll "keep on keeping on."

i find that completely charming, by the way.

and i do feel immensely better (by the kind yet firm posts, and by the big slab of chocolate cake i had for lunch).

[stitchygreyanonymouse]

This is likely somewhat hypocritical, but:

I would immensely appreciate a heads-up in a PM that my posting style was off-putting, so that I might correct it and (theoretically) receive more replies.

I don’t think I could bring myself to do so to someone else, therefore I’d do nothing.


If I can’t easily follow a post, I ignore it. As much as the grammar cop in me wants to correct really obvious mistakes in posts/replies sometimes, I restrain myself, because I’ve seen some replies on here that try to be humorous, but come off incredibly condescending. What comprises "easily followed" changes on the day and my mood, too, so I might find myself willing to try to puzzle it out the next day, if I’ve previously skipped it. Text-speak is right out—I’ve no desire to translate, but egregious and plentiful spelling/grammatical errors bother me more some days than others.

That said, if there is an obvious mistake that causes confusion in the post, I don’t see why asking for clarification/correction in the thread is rude or bad form.

[Wordgeek]

This is an etiquette forum, not one on language.  For those interested in language discussion, I recommend the dictionary.com forum at http://forums.delphiforums.com/dictionary/start.

In terms of the etiquette involved, feel free to ask (politely) for clarification, should you find a particular post confusing.  Also, feel free to skip over any posts you find uninteresting or unappealing.  Nitpicking is inappropriate, but most people seem to have grasped that.