Rools about speling....

[Lydart]

Like Tonniemags, I too have dyslexia ... and when I was at school I was labelled naughty, stupid, of low IQ ... by teachers who in the 50's had never heard of dyslexia.  But because of supportive parents, and sheer determination to find my own strategies, I got through college.  I've since discovered this is an inherited condition ... my mother and great grand-mother had it, as does one of my daughters and my son, and also grand-daughter ! 

I find that I dont use a spell-checker that often ... I re-read what I've written, and can 'see' when a word looks wrong (I've found and corrected seven in this so far !) 

Now I'm technically an OAP, I'm doing a Masters degree ... so thats where bad spelling can get you, Malcolm !!  Its not always laziness or stupidity ... it sometimes caused by bad teaching or by missing school through illness etc.  And also dyslexia ! 

I find mis-spellings can also be quite creative and fun !   I once wrote an article for the parish magazine and found (despite spell checking) that I had called 'friends'   'fiends' all the way through !  Luckily the editor checked up with me ..

[bcowan]

I have to say that since posting this topic I've been both grateful and surprised by some of the responses.  My original point related to common misspellings, not only of names, but related search terms that assist (US) in contacting other researchers.  Whilst good spelling is an important aspect of effective communication, I certainly don't adhere to the view that we dismiss the research of others who also follow this at times strange, hobby of ours, particularly where englissh (oops did it again...!) is not necessarily a first language, or where there may be reading / writing difficulties as described by previous respondants.

The same rules still apply to any information exchanged, ie. validate, validate, validate.... We certainly shouldn't ignore those who have committed the "cardinal sin" of a entering a typo.  For my own part I've connected with people (who just didn't register on the search engines using 'correct' spellings), and shared lots of valuable data.

Your thoughts and feedback, as always, appreciated.

Regards,

Bill