Hello Cindy. Thank you very much for your offer. I am not a teacher for
the very reason that I know I would not be good at it. I don't have the
patience. As you've just pointed out, my way of speaking would probably
not be compatible with trying to teach. Anyway, because of what you've
said (I am not taking it negatively, I really do appreciate it) as well as
the other responses, I think the best thing for me to do is to stop posting
entirely. I have considered that lately anyway but I think that is really
best. I will probably leave the list fairly soon also but I'm undecided on
that. It's interesting to read the new book submissions. Anyway, sorry
all for coming off the wrong way. I admit that I don't do well talking to
people. I have limited communication skills and Cindy is not the first one
to point out things like this. While I appreciate Cindy's offer, I think
the best thing is for me to be silent. I naturally like to help people,
but obviously my tone is misunderstood. Hopefully this will end the
arguing that seems to go on after I post and we'll have a happier list. I
have nothing further to say on this. I doubt if it would do much good
anyway. Thank you again Cindy for helping me out with this.
At 11:23 AM 6/18/2005 -0700, you wrote:
Tony,
I read Gerald's and Dave's responses before writing to be sure I didn't repeat anything.
I know you tried to be helpful and kind, but there's something in the tone of all your messages that comes off as abrupt and dictatorial and a little superior-sounding. You may be one of these people, a couple of whom I am now friends with, who are brusque and seem stand-offish (if that's the right word) but are very nice when you get to know them and you understand that the tone and manner in which they speak should be ignored. It's harder to write than to speak, because when aperson speaks what they say can be softened with a smile, and that's harder to do when one writes -- although that's why so many of us put (smile) when we write -- to soften what we're saying so people won't misundrstand.
Also, many people say "may I suggest" instead of "I would like to suggest;" it's a bit softer -- but even then, some people use it not as a suggestion but to mean "you should do this," which, again, sounds dictatorial. If one says someting like,"What I do . . ." throws out the suggestion and allows the person receiving it to make his/her own decisions.
I don't know, really, how to tell you to write differently, since your manner of speaking and writing is you and you've been doing it all your life. Perhaps you're a teacher -- my husband has the unfortunate habit of sometimes speaking to individuals and in small groups as if he were lecturing before a class, and it is very annoying. Sometimes I've interrupted before he really gets the person to whom he's speaking upset and rephrase what he's saying.
If you want, and you'd like people on the list to realize get your message but have it put in a slightly different way, you could send it to me first and I could try to rewrite it in a way that you might approve. I'd send it back to you for posting. Dave of Gerald might be willing to do the same thing. They are very helpful people.
Cindy
> Tony's original message in its entirety. > > Hi. That's good for you! That means $5 off your next > renewal, and that > always helps. However, I would like to suggest > something. I don't mean to > dampen > your spirits or anything, but please do a thorough > spell check to remove > scanning errors. Some of them can be easily fixed > with a search and replace, > like > the split words, but often the only way to find > scanning errors is with a > full reading through and using a spell checker. In > this regard, I have a > custom > dictionary for Word that I have developed. It has > both American and British > spellings and has greatly helped me lately in > validating. Here are a couple > examples of what I mean: > > "Erie Stanley Gardner" > The above should be Erle, but the scanner missed it. > > 1 think 1 should. > The "1" should be "I." This is somewhat common. > > So, whc did it? > The "whc" should be "who." This isn't quite so > common but still happens. > > The other thing to watch for is random punctuation > marks which don't really > belong. The way I'm handling them is to replace them > with "z" so they show > up > as being spelled wrong. Examples are |, *, \, and ^. > You have to be careful > though since sometimes they are supposed to be > there. Other things to watch > for are "rn" instead of "m." One thing that bugs me > is when someone is > talking about, for example, "the modem way." This > should obviously be > modern. Another > thing is when sites get mangled, like > www.startrek.corn. Since corn is a > real word, it's hard for spell checkers to find it. > It's a little funny > though > in science fiction when people pick up the corn > unit. > > Again, I don't mean to be critical and I am not > saying that you don't do > these things already, but I hope you don't just fly > through the books and > not check > for some of these basic things. I personally only > read books which interest > me except for kids books. For basic children's books > and some really dry > textbooks, > I always read them all the way through. Even with > the children's books I > read them because they are short. I now always check > for and remove split > words. > An easy way to do this is to replace both "^-" and > "-^l" in Word with > nothing. The first is an optional hyphen, the second > is a dash followed by a > newline. > My custom dictionary is available for anyone who > wants it, just ask and I'll > send you a zip file. > > -----Original Message----- > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On > Behalf Of Tony Baechler > Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 3:45 AM > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: ten validations > > > Hello Dave. I made it clear at least twice in my > message that those were > only suggestions. I know from experience that some > things often get > overlooked. I was not trying to pick on anyone. > Therefore, I don't really > appreciate you pointing out the obvious or feeling > as though you needed to > correct me. I was only trying to be helpful as I > mentioned. Since you > mentioned it, the only major requirement, apart from > valid copyright, title > and author information is that the book is complete. > Often one can guess > by looking at the last page whether it is complete > or not, but not always > unless you actually read enough of it to get the > context. I suppose I > should have mentioned that before, but I really > thought it would be enough > mentioning twice at least that I was only making > suggestions. I normally > don't include my original message, but Dave included > it so I'm leaving it > here. Please point out how I was unclear that I was > only trying to make a > few suggestions. > > At 01:03 PM 6/15/2005 -0400, you wrote: > > >I feel obliged to point out to any of the newer > validaters that this is > >Tony's personal methodology, and not a requirement > of Bookshare. I didn't > >want to see anyone who is just getting into > validating become overwhelmed > >by the prospect and just call it quits. The more > you validate, the better > >you will get, the easier it will become, and the > higher you will set the > >standard for your own personal efforts. > > > >Dave > > > >At 12:31 AM 6/15/2005, you wrote: > >>Hi. That's good for you! That means $5 off your > next renewal, and that > >>always helps. However, I would like to suggest > something. I don't mean > >>to dampen your spirits or anything, but please do > a thorough spell check > >>to remove scanning errors. Some of them can be > easily fixed with a > >>search and replace, like the split words, but > often the only way to find > >>scanning errors is with a full reading through and > using a spell > >>checker. In this regard, I have a custom > dictionary for Word that I have > >>developed. It has both American and British > spellings and has greatly > >>helped me lately in validating. Here are a couple > examples of what I > mean: > > > > > > Tony Baechler > Maintainer, goldenaudio.net (TM) online archives > http://goldenaudio.net/ > > > >
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Tony Baechler Maintainer, goldenaudio.net (TM) online archives http://goldenaudio.net/
