[ SECRET POST #2706 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2706 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 079 secrets from Secret Submission Post #387.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[a_potato]

I am very much "wtf" at the author's reply. This sort of thing isn't a matter of preference or "fondness;" it's a matter of what's correct and incorrect. And drawing that particular distinction between "line breaks" and paragraphs is, well, incorrect.

It smacks of someone trying very hard to be special.

[inevitableentresol]

I think it smacks of someone not really knowing what they're doing, finding the wrong way to do it and then digging their heels in out of ignorance.

I understand an author might develop a preference. That's fine for their personal journal. But if they're going to post stories online, where others can see them, they should have a better reason for non-standard formatting than they just fancy it.

[a_potato]

It reads as an attempt to be special to me largely because it's so common for people to embrace "unusual" ways of doing things in order to stand out. But yeah, it could be a combination of ignorance and stubbornness (and, in that scenario, possibly insecurity), as well.

On your second point, agreed. If you're making your writing public, then you no longer have just yourself to consider -- you have also to consider your readership. And your readership is not going to be well-served by strange or hard-to-read formatting.

[inevitableentresol]

I've done stupid, stubborn things myself in the past. Sometimes it was because I wanted to keep doing things the way I'd been taught back in school, in my own country, and wasn't taking into account that the internet is a worldwide audience.

For example, for years I put two spaces after my full stops and didn't want to change. That's how I was taught. I would be penalised if I only used one space.

This person could be English second language and from somewhere that they're genuinely taught to format like that.

Still not acceptable, though.

(and yay, I'm having a conversation with a potato, wooo)

[a_potato]

I will say that the convention of using two spaces doesn't seem so strange to me; I was taught the same in the US. It appears to be something that's passed out of favor only recently.

I won't claim to know how it's done in all parts of the world, but I think that we might be hard-pressed to find a place that formats along the lines of this particular writer. That said, you do have a point -- people can be taught different things, whether it's because they're from another country or because they have a teacher who's attached to older forms.


(Might I interest you in a carrot?)

[inevitableentresol]

Now a talking potato is offering me a carrot. Just when I thought that my day couldn't get any better.

Thank you, I will partake.

[a_potato]

Wonderful!

[inevitableentresol]

Now I feel guilty, because I know what use I've put such stripling innocent carrots to in the past.

This one, however, I shall put to its proper use, like the Lord of Vegetables intended, and merely eat it.

Thank you.

[a_potato]

...wait. What are you doing with your carrots? o.O

[(Anonymous)]

Do we really want to know?

[misty_anon]

I was taught to use two spaces after a full stop. So far as I know, it's still acceptable to use one or two, as long as you're consistent. I've noticed that LJ and AO3 strip the double space out and replace them all with single ones anyway.

[a_potato]

If you don't mind me asking, just so we can get a read on the state of the convention (because I find this fascinating)...how old are you? I'm 28, and was taught to use two spaces 18 or 19 years ago.

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT

I was taught to use two spaces as a kid (never used a typewriter, but my family was an early adopter of the home PC). Some time in junior high - anytime between late 1992 and early 1994 - I was sitting in the computer lab one day and noticed a poster of "rules" for typing on a computer. One of them was "Only use one space after the end of a sentence." I thought, "Sure, why not? Why do we use two spaces, anyway?" (I didn't understand the difference between monospaced and proportional fonts.) I used one space only from there on.

I can't stand the look of double spacing, now. I used to have a co-worker who insisted on using double spacing and when I would have to edit some of his text into a larger report, I insisted on going through and eliminating all the extra spaces while quietly raging.

[a_potato]

See, that's really interesting, because I was being taught to double space circa '95, '96.

Perhaps it was a slow fade.

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps it was a slow fade.

No doubt. My co-worker was still insisting on using double spaces ca. 2011.

I think it took a long time for more people to hear of the new rule (it's not like there was some kind of official announcement on the evening news) and even when they did, they often clung to the old rule because it was too hard to un-learn it, or because they didn't understand the reason for switching to only one space (i.e. auto-kerned proportional fonts - assuming you're using a proportion font - render two spaces unnecessary). There's probably a lot of people who still use two spaces out of habit and just haven't ever run into a situation where this went against official formatting rules they had to follow, say to submit a manuscript to a publisher or an article to a journal.

[(Anonymous)]

They were still teaching it in my high school in '96. I didn't even hear it was "wrong" until a couple of years ago. I still prefer it, because I find it easier to read.

[(Anonymous)]

This is the first I'm hearing of it actually. I'm 38. I thought two spaces was still considered correct.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, me too. We're only supposed to use one space now? I-I don't know if I can do that.

[(Anonymous)]

I suppose that rule had something to do with typewriters and fonts back in the day, reasons that probably don't apply now at all. Personally I'd be quite fine with your two spaces to my one. It's the people who insist on NO spaces and then refuse to change it because "That's how I like it" that I can't stand.

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt - I'm 37 and I was taught the same. I still do it automatically, but these days most software reformats it to one space. I prefer two, to be honest. It just feels easier on the eyes.

[misty_anon]

I've no idea if you'll see this, but I'm in my forties and British (if that makes a difference). I was taught the two space rule in my typing class which was over 30 years ago. The son of a friend of mine went through university 10 or so years ago, and I remember my friend commenting that his professor had stipulated that either one or two spaces was acceptable as long as you were consistent.

[(Anonymous)]

DA

I'm an American in my late 30s and not only was I taught to put two spaces, it's has always been the standard at every company where I have worked. I was shocked when I went back to school two years ago and they required a single space.

[esteefee]

It's the html parser in your browser that ignores the extra space, regardless if it's there or not in the html. Believe me, I'm grateful, because I still type two spaces after a period.

[misty_anon]

Heh, me too. As another person said, I prefer how it looks.