I am a blogger not a writer.
Mar24Written by:
2009/03/24 01:04 PM 
Is there such a difference? Can a blogger be a writer, and can a writer be a blogger. Should a blogger be a writer.
To correctly understand this, one has to understand what exactly a blog is. A blog is a web log. A internet diary if you may. It is a forum where people can jot down their thoughts and ideas. Write helpful tips and hints. A blog is a forum where you can give meaningful instructions, or just write for the fun of it. Penning down what is important to you and what might be meaningful to your readers.
A blogger is not necessary an author or a qualified copy writer. They might not even have a proper or good command of the chosen language that they are writing in. But then again writing might not be their primary career focus.
Many blogger are casual writer, your average Joe in the street. Some might not even be writing in their mother tongue.
Take me for instance. I write and maintain a blog. Yet my primary career focus is in programming, Web development. I write applications, design and develop websites. On top of that I am dyslexic, find it difficult to read, yet I blog. My blog is not aimed at winning a Pulitzer prize or compete with Shakespeare. It is to communicate IT, programming, web development knowledge to my audience.
On the other hand, a writer is, in my mind, one who has chosen the career of writing as their main source of income. A author, article writer, manual writer, copy writer is such a one. I would not expect them to have a great knowledge of IT, or of the topic that they are writing about.
A blogger might not be a writer, but a writer can be a blogger as well.
How many journalists write about technology, yet they fall very short of understanding that technology on the same level as I do. But I do not mind.
The only time this would affect me is if the author writes complete rubbish, showing their ignorance and absolute lack of understanding of the technology. You would at least want the author of a article to have some sort of tech knowledge on their chosen subject. But you would forgive them if they make a mistake or two, or if they do not posses the same knowledge you have.
I believe the same should apply to those who blog, even though writing is not their primary profession. This does not disqualify them from at least having some sort of good grammar or correct spelling. Spelling is important and could easily be corrected with current software. Most writing tools have a spell checker. Use it. Although using a spell checker is not a 100% guarantee.
What really irritates me is that there are people out there that get so upset when they see one mistake. I am not here to win a grammar contest or a spelling bee. In fact I caan spil to sayv mi lif. But to some a single spelling error would disqualify me as a competent blogger.
There are professional bloggers out there who have thousands of followers, yet they have their moments in the spelling and grammar arena. Does bad grammar and bad spelling disqualify you as a credible blogger? Where do you draw the line? How much should one tolerate? Surely the sentence should make sense and at least communicate the thought and idea of the subject in a reasonable way. Yes, too much spelling mistakes, and really bad grammar would put off many, but does it have to be perfect in every way.
I am guilty of many of these mistakes. Some of my grammar is not quite correct, and I often spell words incorrectly. Sometimes it is because of finger trouble, other times its just bad spelling. You can catch most of these with a good spell checker. But I would be the first to admit that I do not make use of these all the time.
One can get very excited about posting your blog post. Trying to get it out there as fast as possible, that one often does not take the time to re-read the posts or even do a proper spell check. This is a area which I can work on, and the little time it takes to use the grammar tools at my disposal, will not greatly impact the my blog post from a timing aspect. So I should just do it.
Bloggers should watch their grammar and their spelling. Readers should be able to point out errors in a friendly and non critical way. Every body should have a level of tolerance.
Does spelling and grammar really irritate you? What is you level of forgiveness when it comes to this topic? Are you a blogger? What is your spelling and grammar like? Have you been pulled over the coals because if bad grammar and spelling?
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