Does spelling or grammar really matter on Steemit or even affect your earnings?
Today is my 7th day on Steemit and I am very new to blogging. I consider myself a “tadpole” and aspire to be a “whale” one day by contributing new and original content to the platform. Few days into Steemit my blog “Is Cryptocurrency and Open-data the answer to Africa’s thriving corruption and poverty?” was listed on Project Curie by @curie. "Project curie is a community project run by several Steemit authors. Our mission is to help reward new content creators who are posting all sorts of original content, and give them the exposure that they need.”
I’m very cautious about spelling and grammar. In high school I did English first language and Afrikaans second language despite that it is still bad but to be honest I am trying to improve on a daily bases. I previously published "Homemade slick roadster from a rural village in Limpopo - South Africa." and only to notice a spelling mistake. To my “tadpole” mind I started to edit with little to know it cleared all my earnings from the all “upvotes” I received at that time. I ended up with $0,14 from 18 votes compared to the one I didn't edit, same 18 votes but $37,72: "Hackathons with rapid innovative ideas and designs are solving Africa’s problems."
I was inspired by a blog by @gavvet, "How to catch a monkey…. let’s not be monkeys on Steemit", because is not only about the money being earned but the new and original content I publish. I only PowerUP to have more Steem Power and don't keep Steem because I have no plans to withdraw anytime soon.
I can only answer from my own experience as a reader here, but I must admit spelling, spacing, grammar, correct word usage, etc affect my reaction to Steemit posts. (effect or affect? Now I'm anxious and overthinking my own words!)
It's 2 things for me.
having limited amount of time to peruse my feed I don't want to spend extra time on a poorly written piece just trying to interpret what they are saying. And typos, spacing errors, lack of paragraph breaks, etc cause my brain to process it more/takes longer to get through.
I only know English currently, and if I read a post that seems interesting but with struggling English then I think I subconsciously suspect I won't really understand the writer's intent anyways due to difficultly in translation. Like, I'm not going to really get what they are saying because they don't know English well enough to fully express their experience. So I'm less likely to finish reading it or upvote it.
But please let me say this - I am not judging or complaining. I'm not saying that I look down on these posts. I can only humbly speak 1 little language. I have great respect for folks who speak more than one and who write in a nonnative tongue. I hope all being feel free to express themselves. I'm only being honest about how I often respond to really poorly done posts.
This post has a few little errors, but not enough to deter me. I read the whole thing with interest, upvoting, following you, and posted a crazy long comment. ;-)
@steemed-open I clearly understand your views and like I said I am also having difficulties but I try to proof read and check my spelling before I can publish my blog.
Hi @mokluc, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads today and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
@shadowspub thanks for the recognition and highlighting the importance of my blog.
Spelling counts in my view. A few errors or simple typos are not that bad, theyare more a function of a proofreading fail. When I consistently see badly spelled words or misused words, I know I'm reading someone who is trying to write above their ability and not taking the time to use a dictionary.
Spellchecks are not the answer. You need to be sure that you're using the right word as well as the spelling.
That makes sense...that's how I feel...
I'm basically the worst writer ever..
Its a good thing most people only browse through my posts and look at the pictures...IF they actually read it they'd realize I write at a solid grade 7 level. (I'm 28)
For the most part, you are writing at just the right level @klye. The average person reads at a grade 6 or 7 level so you are writing for the average reader.
Never thought about it like that... Thanks. :)
Maybe you are better than me...I always read over and over then use a spell checker...its a problem!!!
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