Spelling Checker

Discussion in 'SF Open Government' started by Closet Philosopher, Mar 22, 2005.

?

Do you want a spelling checker in the forum?

Poll closed Apr 5, 2005.
  1. Yes

    14 vote(s)
    73.7%
  2. No

    5 vote(s)
    26.3%
  1. Closet Philosopher Off to Laurentian University Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,785
    I am proposing the addition of a spell checker to the Advanced Mode for posting replies. I think this will benefit the forum in many ways. Here are the reasons why I think it is a good idea:

    - Many people who post in this forum are intelligent people worthy of discussing the topics on this board, but English is their second language. It would help them express their opinions more effectively without being criticized for mistakes.

    - Typing errors and silly mistakes could be found in posts. For all I know, there could be an error in this post that was overlooked.

    - The Spell Checker could underline or highlight the errors instead of correcting them so that people can learn from their errors and become better posters.

    - I will occasionally proof read my posts, but I don't usually have the time. It would help save time and maybe even encourage people to make longer posts that are more in-depth.

    - There would be no excuse for bad spellers to post replies littered with errors.

    There are probably many other benefits to implementing this tool. I think it will improve the overall quality of the forum.
     
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  3. plexus Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    69
    I absolutely agree with you.
    Perhaps something that would check sentence structure would be a good idea as well.
     
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  5. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    9,686
    Sounds like a good idea. But, it might not be the easiest thing in the world to work in and Porfiry is notoriously short on time. But it would be sweet.
     
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  7. water the sea Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,442
    Well ... a spelling checker can eventually produce this:

    * * *

    SPELLING CHEQUER


    Eye halve a spelling chequer
    It came with my pea sea
    It plainly marques four my revue
    Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

    Eye strike a key and type a word
    And weight four it two say
    Weather eye am wrong oar write
    It shows me strait a weigh.

    As soon as a mist ache is maid
    It nose bee four two long
    And eye can put the error rite
    Its rare lea ever wrong.

    Eye have run this poem threw it
    I am shore your pleased two no
    Its letter perfect awl the weigh
    My chequer tolled me sew.



    * * *

    In order to spell properly, one must know what one wants to say -- and this is judged by semantic principles which a spelling checker cannot identify.
    The poem above makes perfect sense if you only hear it -- but if you read it, it's a disaster.

    Surely, some misspellings can be fixed by the use of a spelling checker, like how to spell "negative" (often typed as "negetive"), "atheist" (often "athiest") or "beleive" instead of "believe", or how to distinguish "quit" from "quite" etc.

    But a spelling checker normally cannot correct "I belief in science" into "I believe in science".

    What to do?


    I think that if the use of the spelling checker would be optional (ie. you could post without running the post through the checker), not so many would choose to do it, as it would take up extra time and effort.

    And if one would use the checker, a certain kind of mistakes (the poem above being a prime example, even though most exaggerated) would remain anyway.


    What might be of use is that the good spellers review the posts and bring up the most frequent mistakes in a special thread (preferrably a sticky). This way, those who want to learn have an instant opportunity to do so. The spelling problem is addressed at its core, and the chances to improve the spelling are better.
     
  8. kornrulz Satan is a Nerd Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    98
    no idea what you're even talkin' 'bout!
     
  9. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    19,083
    There was a spellchecker in Sciforums many moons ago and it was disabled for reasons forgotten, but I distincly remember those reasons to be logical and understandable.
    I'd like a spellchecker though, but I fear the forgotten reasons have not gone away. They lurk beneath.
     
  10. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,331
  11. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    9,686
    Spellchecker.net?
    Hmm. You'd think that there would be a way to build the functionality into the software itself. The dictionary would be a bit of a problem, especially in a place like this where so many different words would be put into use but that could be taken care of.

    I wonder if the advertising climate has changed back?
     
  12. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    19,083
    What advertising climate?
     
  13. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    9,686
    This advertising climate:

    "Due to the current advertising climate, SpellChecker.net no longer offers a banner supported service. Webmasters: click here to sign up for the paid version of the SpellChecker.net system."

    From January, 2002. (Goofy's link.)
     
  14. Dreamwalker Whatever Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,205
    Why not write the posts in a normal writing programm like OpenOffice or MS Word? Last time I looked, those had a spell checking option, and every version, no matter in what language should have spell checkers for English.
     
  15. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    33,264
    I either use WORD or Outlook Express to write certain things sometimes then just copy and paste it here. I usually don't though for I'm not worried about my spelling here, I mean who really cares about what you write as long as you convey your messages.
     
  16. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,884
    Question: Who doesn't have a spell-check on their computer?

    Adding one to the site, in addition to adding to Porfiry's labor burden and the costs of running Sciforums, seems largely extraneous. No network to hang, redlines if I want them, and necessary options on the mouse. At least, that's my user experience. As a Mac user, though, I'm aware that I could be applying too high a standard for the rest of the market.
     
  17. Closet Philosopher Off to Laurentian University Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,785
    I am aware that almost everyone has a spelling checker on their computer. The point is that if the spelling checker would be integrated into Sciforums then if someone posts a reply full of mistakes then we could tell them to refer to the speeling checker. It wouldn't be too difficult to add in a spelling checker that is internal or through another site with php. I would do it if Porfiry wants me to.

    Remeber than I am not targeting many of the people that have already replied to this. You won't need the spelling checker. When I first joined this forum, I used to post in the internet jargon. If it was stressed upon me right away that all words must be spelled correctly because this forum is one of the few on the new that have some form of quality posting, then it would have made me make the transition quicker.
     
  18. Rick Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    3,336
    Dave, if you could try this :
    Checking the spelling of a wordThe simplest usage of your spell checker is to simply determine if a word is a valid word in the dictionary. This is accomplished through the use of the pspell_check() function which is defined as...

    boolean pspell_check (int dictionary_link, string word)

    ...where dictionary_link now represents the value returned from pspell_new_config() and word represents the word to check.

    If the word exists either in the original dictionary or the personal wordlist, pspell_check() returns true and the word is valid (returning false if the word was not found).

    Suggesting a correct spelling of a word
    Assume a word is invalid; PHP can suggest a group of words that PHP believes might be what the given word was supposed to be. This can be done through the use of the pspell_suggest() function.

    Calling this function is identical to pspell_check(), except pspell_suggest() will return an array of suggestions for the given word rather than a simple false if the word was not found.

    If it can help.(i must admit i am not good at PHP, I took this from a site.)
     
  19. bob-bobby Born Again ;) Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    162
    ya ya i want !!!! is ya a correct spelling or is it yeah ... or perhaps yah

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  20. Naomi [oxiglycodextrosium] Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    186
    Only if this spellchecker is forced.

    I suggest that it perform the function of weeding out lousy spelling / 4nn0y1ng n3tsp34k.
    (Ugh. See how annoying that little phrase was to read?)
     
  21. Athelwulf Rest in peace Kurt... Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,060
    If you have Microsoft Word on your computer, use it; it checks spelling and grammar. It doesn't do a better job with the "Spell Chequer" poem (except for telling me that "chequer" might be "coequer", "Chaucer", "scheduler", or "sequel"), but it's overexaggerated anyway. It takes care of the annoying commonly-mixed-up words and the capitalization of "I" though. And that's something some people here need.

    I don't ever spellcheck my posts because I don't have a big problem with misspelling words. That's just me though.
     
  22. Jinoda Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    365
    Haha eh no. i don ave a sinlge porblem wit spellin, so its nto just u.

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  23. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    19,083

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