[Guide To] Making Good and Easy to Read Posts! Tips for Post Appearance, Spelling, & Grammar!

[dotdotduck]

Firstly, I would like to say that I know there are many younger kids here and also people who don't know English as a first language. I'm NOT saying that I CAN'T understand your posts or you NEED do a better job- this thread is a little reference for EVERYONE and I'm NOT telling you do to do this stuff- that's your choice. I'm just asking for everyone to TRY their BEST- that's all anyone could ask for.

Okay, welcome to my guide!
I just put together some tips that will (hopefully) help make your posts easy to read and understand.
The pink topics are for the actual appearance of the post.
The blue topics are for spelling and grammar.

Quoting:
To quote, look at someone's post in the bottom right corner, there should be a button labeled "Quote", click it, and it should take you to a (what I call) "Posting Box".
At the top of the box, it will say [Quote] Person's message [Quote], to reply to that person's post, click after the 2nd "[Quote]" and type your reply and click "Submit Reply" at the bottom.





Why is quoting helpful? It keeps a thread flowing smoothly and lets the person that you are quoting know that YOU are talking to THEM and not someone else.

Colors:
This blue and this red are reserved for Moderators and Administrators. Regular members are NOT allowed to use these.

WI also has a lot of VERY bright colors like these: this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. There is NO rule saying that you CAN'T use them, but they are awfully hard to read. You can take your mouse and highlight it to read it. Also, keep in mind that some people use devices like cell phones, iTouches, and Nintendo DSes to get on WI, and you can not highlight using them, so they will most likely SKIP OVER YOUR POST.

Smilies & Reserving Posts:
These are similes --->
It's best to use a fair amount of them because too many is considered SPAM. (flooding the Internet with many of the same posts or posts which are completely unecessary/random and do not contribute to the Forum at all)

However, there is an exception- if you are making a Shop, Guide, GE, House Thread or another thread that will require you to use more than one post or you can't fit all the pictures you need in one (20 picture limit per post) you can "Reserve" an extra post and go and edit it later. All you have to do is put 20 smiles or pictures in that post and your 1st and 2nd post won't merge together.


Spell-Check:
If you have a program such as Word on your computer, you can just right-click "Copy" your post here from WI and right-click "Paste" it into Word and it will underline all the words that are spelled wrong. You can right-click on the red-underlined word and it will tell you what it THINKS is the right word that you meant to spell or the corrected spelling. (it is NOT always right)

There is also another easier way to spell-check. If you use the Firefox Internet Browser, if you spell something wrong, it underlines your post and when you right-click on the word it shows you some alternative spellings. (this also ISN'T always right)

If you would like to download Firefox, you can go here ---> http://www.mozilla.com/en-U/firefox/personal.html

*NOTE* Webkinz and WebkinzInsider comes up red because it is not a real recognized word. *Thanks lol6308*

Different Forms of Words:
LOTS of people make mistakes when it comes to "to", "too", and "two" and words like that. Here are their definitions and when to use them:
To: an infinitive or preposition.
I went to school.
Too: another word for "also" or "very"
I want one, too!
Two: the number following one
I have two ducks.
It's: the contraction of "it is"
It's a beautiful day.
Its: a possessive (owning) form of the word it
Its quack was very loud.
*It's and Its* Try using 'It's in the second sentence. If saying 'It is quack was very loud' sounds awkward, then use 'Its'. That's a trick I use . Whenever you are stuck, try saying 'It is' in front of your sentence. If it makes sense, use it. If it doesn't, use 'Its'.*Posted by Wowewe, thanks!*
There: refers to a specific location
Look over there!
Their: possessive (owning) word for another group of people
Their dog is named Bob.
They're: the contraction of "they" and "are"
They're coming to the movies with us tomorrow.
Your: the possessive (owning) form of you
Your brother is ugly.
You're: contraction of "you" and "are"
You're scaring me!
Accept: verb that refers to taking something in stride
Please accept my friend request!
Except: used when leaving something out or discussing an exception
I like all those songs except "Boom Boom Pow".

Abbreviations:
Instead of writing out a WHOLE, LONG word, it's much easier to abbreviate.
Here are some common abbreviations used on WI:
GE: Gift Exchange (for Gifted and Gift Gurus)
TGE: Trainee Gift Exchange (for Gift Trainees and Gift Coaches)
GT: Gift Trainee
GC: Gift Coach
GG: Gift Guru
WI: Webkinz Insider
WW: Webkinz World
Admin: Administrator
Mod: Moderator
DCT: Daily Chat Thread
DH: Dear Husband (used by adults)
Hubby: Husband (used by adults)
DS: Dear Son (used by adults)
DD: Dear Daughter (used by adults)
PM: Private Message
VM: Visitor Message (Profile)
Prof: Profile
Avvie: Avatar/Icon
Siggy: Signature

That's all I have for now! Hope it helped a bit.
If there is something you think I should add/change feel free to tell me.

This is NOT completed yet!
To-Do list:
*gets pics for "Quoting"
*explain Multi Quoting
*get pics for Multi Quoting
*think of more misused words
*think of more abbreviations
*Lol's suggestion
*Wowewe's suggestion
*pics for "Spell-check"
*Could/would/should (thanks Ave)

[ave]

Lovely guide! This is really helpful. In the misused words section, you might also want to add should of, could of, and would of. I see a lot of people saying something like "I could of..." instead of "I could have..."

5 stars!

[MarielofRedwall]

Very nice guide, thank you so much!

[dotdotduck]

Originally Posted by ave

Lovely guide! This is really helpful. In the misused words section, you might also want to add should of, could of, and would of. I see a lot of people saying something like "I could of..." instead of "I could have..."

5 stars!

Thanks, Ave!
I'll have to add that!

[egg]

Thanks this makes it easier dor me. I sometimes use my dsi to go on the internet and you are right you can't highlight anything!

[lol6308]

Excellent guide! I love it! Also, if ou wanted, I think that you should add that webkinz is not a real word so it is red on your posts.

[wowewe]

I have a tip for this:
It's: the contraction of "it is"
It's a beautiful day.
Its: a possessive (owning) form of the word it
Its quack was very loud.

Try using 'It's in the second sentence. If saying 'It is quack was very loud' sounds awkward, then use 'Its'. That's a trick I use . Whenever you are stuck, try saying 'It is' in front of your sentence. If it makes sense, use it. If it doesn't, use 'Its'.

[dotdotduck]

Originally Posted by MarielofRedwall

Very nice guide, thank you so much!

Originally Posted by egg

Thanks this makes it easier dor me. I sometimes use my dsi to go on the internet and you are right you can't highlight anything!

Thanks Mariel and Egg.
Glad you like it!

[dotdotduck]

Originally Posted by lol6308

Excellent guide! I love it! Also, if ou wanted, I think that you should add that webkinz is not a real word so it is red on your posts.

Originally Posted by wowewe

I have a tip for this:
It's: the contraction of "it is"
It's a beautiful day.
Its: a possessive (owning) form of the word it
Its quack was very loud.

Try using 'It's in the second sentence. If saying 'It is quack was very loud' sounds awkward, then use 'Its'. That's a trick I use . Whenever you are stuck, try saying 'It is' in front of your sentence. If it makes sense, use it. If it doesn't, use 'Its'.

Thanks LOL and Wowewe!
Added your suggestions to the first post and gave you guys credit.

[Lake]

A wonderful guide, DDD!
I love how well put together it is, and how you color-coded it.
As a role-player, I find spelling and grammar mistakes (like the to, two, and too thing) very annoying. This guide would also be helpful if it was stickied in the role-play section...
EDIT: This was something I thought of after leaving this thread, but... maybe you could add a section for the fonts? Like, which fonts are unreadable when bolded, or which is which? I don't know- now it seems kinda pointless now that I just wrote it...