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[Anon]

May I inquire which of the corrections she made that with which you disagree?

The errors aren't exactly glaring ones. But looking over some of the corrections that have been made, the typos in Ebony's story are simply that: typos. Similarly, I've also noticed that problem with the articles (such as the "a" before, "Small explosion trembles the mountain again") and it bothered me for a while. But then, as I was writing my own stories, MS Word would actually try to correct that article use and change the sentence to what you've corrected up there (I usually ignore when MS Word does that, personally). I don't know if it's the same for Ebony, but that's what's happened to me, and there's a possibility that it could be the same technical problem.

That aside, I've noticed that Ebony uses a more British/European style to her writing, in the way some words are used, presented, or written. For example, the word, "Mister," is typically abbreviated to Mr. with a period, whereas in Europe - for example, the UK - it's left without the period. Punctuation is a tricky thing in writing, as well, and especially if someone's typing fast on a keyboard, it's not uncommon to hit the wrong key for a period or a comma, etc.

Hmm... Tense changes are also hard to keep in line. There's no solid excuse for an author to forget what tense her story is written in, but perhaps it simply mixes with her different stories. For example, she could be writing another story on the side, but in past tense, or third-person POV, and so on. And even if those errors are present in Ebony's work, it's not as if they are in massive paragraphs - just some sentences.

I'm sorry if that's a little too long, but I do have a tendency to make things a bit wordy. But I hope that helps.

[Kim]

Since I've been kept up to date by Nikki with what's been going on last night, I'll go ahead and step in. I'm not mad about this, I'm really not. I'm glad that things are coming out in the open.

I'm sure this whole mess is going to take a while to settle down and that's perfectly fine. I'm a pretty patient person...normally. If we have to keep going back and forth about this, that's fine. Most of us are finding it amusing. *takes the rum and coke from Mare*

All everyone is doing is letting this whole thing ruin their week. Now really, this is the fifth day of the battle. Aren't we all ready to call it quits and each go back to our respective boards?

[nibbles]

Kimmy....Ha! (hands out r&c's to everyone!)

Anon - So there seems to be a language barrier huh???

Then why aren't people asking Betas who are fluent in English to proof their work???
As I said...I would be more than willing!!

And personally I understand that people are not professional writers or typists. As such, I overlook many of the errors (whichever they may be).

[luckysparrow]

I'm sorry I think its is up to the readers who decide what is a good story and what is not.

[Kim]

And that's the way it should be. We're not here to say 'Write about this but not about that'. That's the beauty of the imagination. Everyone's work shows their imaginative side. No one should ever try to put a block on anyones imagination.

[nibbles]

Applaudes Kimmy and Lucky!!!

Point taken....I love your stories and yes, I overlook errors...no big deal!

[Kinki]

Anon- I understand that Ebony writes in a British/English style that is why I didn't correct words like colour. And I agree sometimes the writer overlooks little errors that they make that is why I said she should use a beta. In her submission rules she asks everyone to use a beta yet she does not. And there's proof about it in her stories.

[Wildcat Charli]

As one of the English authors, there are certain differences between the languages but where I live at least we still put the full stop in after MR. otherwise it just looks wrong. The fundemantal point that Nikki was trying to get to was that the stories should be betaed if that is what it says in the submissions, and I would have thought it would have been an even bigger importance to have it betaed if you're non-English.

But we welcome your opinions, everyone has them and it's great to get all sides on the perspective. No-one is right or wrong so we won't shoot you down. I do agree that the cultural language barrier does get in the way sometimes, because I find some American says, especially gotten, really odd as we just don't say that. Any post as long as its suitable to a certain extent is welcomed

[Lady Linwë]

Sorry if this seems wrong but i visit both sites and i have seen mistakes on both. Now i read more stories than i do write and i honestly have to say that as long as it has a good plot line then i dont care about grammer and punctuation. (As if probably evident from lack of in this post). Just wanna say that maybe Ebony does use a beta and they just suck. I have used a beta for one of my stories before and it came back with possibly more errors in it than before i sent it. Because English is not her first language she may not realise that those errors are there and assumes the beta knows what they are doing.

As for that whole Mr. Mr thing. I studied English right up until year 12 and i have always been taught to write it as 'Mr'. If we put it as 'Mr.' then marks would be taken off. My English teacher was crazy though so she could be wrong

[Kinki]

We don't have a problem with you visiting both sites. As I said before everyone is entitled to their opinion and I won't rebuke someone for having a different opinion from me.

And I agree there are mistakes in some of the stories we host here because not everyone uses a beta. We're encouraging those who don't use them to start using them because the stories really look better when they don't have mistakes in them. Even the ones who do use a beta may have a mistake here and there because neither the beta or the authoress catches it. It happens I've seen it but there is a difference between one mistake in your entire update as opposed to your update being full of mistakes.

[Wildcat Charli]

Yup, I know the MR/ MR. thing is crazy. No-one seems to know which way it should go. I actually asked my english teacher and she shrugged and was like, how ever you'd like Charlotte. So much for the help!

[nibbles]

The whole Mr./Mr thing can be cleared up as simple as this...

If you are in the US, then it is considered an abbreviation of the word Mister....so it would be Mr.

If you are in Europe, the punctuation is clearly different and Mr without the period is completely acceptable and preferred.