Am I an Advert Response Snob?

A response such as the one shown would strongly suggest to me that said writer was not that bothered. It would also suggest that someone who could not be bothered to make a small amount of effort when asking for OP's pony might well not make an effort to take care of said pony. It's not snobbery, it's basic manners! And if someone genuinely has problems with spelling etc, then they could either ask someone to check the response, use a spell checker or possibly even include an explanation. It is not down to the recipient to have to work to translate the message!
 
Moon said:
But just spelt wrong e.g 'ov- of'.
When speaking to someone you dont know i think its only polite to be formal, like the whole french 'vous' vs. 'tu' scenario.
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I'm sure I heard on the radio recently that the "vous" form was gradually disappearing!

I recently answered some loan adverts via email and I'm afraid the poor recipients had to wade through an essay (ok, maybe a SLIGHT exaggeration!). I thought since they were potentially trusting me with their most prized possession/friend they deserved to know a bit about me first. Also if they had loads of responses then one with a bit of background info would stand out more than "i reely lik ur ors"!

As mentioned above you are going to have to communicate with this person regularly.
 
I have just sold a high value item on e-bay. When the man who eventually bought it first contacted me the I thought he was just a p*** taker as his questions were so full of spelling mistakes and he asked some very odd questions.
When he finally came to look after about 3 weeks and two lots of listings on e-bay he was quite a sensible man and we struck a deal. English was not his first language, I think I would have sounded an idiot in Cantonese.
 
Of course you are a snob :p Do you not realise what a favour this person would be doing you by loaning the horse, why on earth would she bother to try and impress you? :p :p :D

I would not even bother to answer this one, just press delete :) I am sure that there will be others who do realise that to loan a pony is a privilage and that it is important that they do get on with the owner. Good luck with the search for a reasonable loaner.
 
I have discovered that writing sms's and having spell check has diminished my capacity for spelling - for instance, I abbreviate tomorrow to tomoro in a text, and the other day I had to type it out correctly, and for the life of me I could not see past "tomoro" - took a couple of attempts to get it right. So for todays youngsters growing up communicating text speak, I wonder if they would be able to write a proper response? Off course it might also be menopause that I am no longer able to spell? :)
 
No I am the same. If they have a genuine literacy problem they could phone.

I usually fire off a "is this horse still available please", first, then go into more detail if it is.
 
i am definitely an advert snob!

I hate abbreviated writing!
A response like that would put them in the no pile!

Sorry it is probably judging a book by its cover or a rider by their writing!
 
Agreed! I am an advert snob too and proud of it!! My biggest hatred is people who text when enquiring about a horse. Especially if everything is abbreviated. I am an avid texter, I think nothing of sending up to 50 a day but when it comes to buying/trying horses I will always pick up the phone. There's only so much one can say about a horse when using 150 sms characters, including smiley faces! :D
 
I totally know what you mean and would probably gave agreed until I met a lovely lady who struggles to write. What she writes is kind of phonetic. I understand that she left school virtually illiterate and has gone to great lengths to learn enough to get by. She has shown emense courage and determination in learning to read and write as well as she has and in admitting her difficulties. Although her response to a loan advert would be similar to those the OP quotes she'd be a cracking loaner and I wouldn't hestitate to put her forward if someone I knew was trying to find a loaner.
 
Kat said:
I totally know what you mean and would probably gave agreed until I met a lovely lady who struggles to write. What she writes is kind of phonetic. I understand that she left school virtually illiterate and has gone to great lengths to learn enough to get by. She has shown emense courage and determination in learning to read and write as well as she has and in admitting her difficulties. Although her response to a loan advert would be similar to those the OP quotes she'd be a cracking loaner and I wouldn't hestitate to put her forward if someone I knew was trying to find a loaner.
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But my guess would be that your friend would make more of an effort or ask someone to help...
 
it's the youth of today. While it is totally off putting, I wouldnt assume anything. My 17 yr old sister is a very compedent girl, and i would leave her in charge here if i was away, she really is capable of looking after children, horses dogs and cats. However, she was working with me in the office at work during the summer. she had typed a quote, and i had to ammend it the next day but coiuldnt find it in the system. After an hour, i went into recent documents on the computer that she was working on. She had spelled "school", "skul", thats why i couldnt find it. (And she got a B1 in honours english in her leaving cert). lol
 
It is not the 'youth of today' ! How discriminating! I have two daughters, one is 15 years old and the other 18 years old. Neither would be so rude to use text speak for anything other than texting a friend and even then nothing as bad a that! It's laziness speak!

It seems that text speak is being mistaken for laziness, lack of grammar and of being a certain age. I know women and men in their thirties and forties (Oh yes, with professional jobs!) Who are ridiculous in their social/text speak!
 
horserider said:
I'd rather they picked up the phone to communicate, Texting is rude, emailing only slightly less so.
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Have been thinking exactly that as I read the thread. Sorry, but I wouldn't loan/sell a three legged guinea pig to someone too lazy or indifferent to make proper contact in the first instance
 
Wouldn't bother me so much if the spelling and grammar wasn't quite right (mine isn't brilliant either!) But text/chav speak would put me off straight away!
 
I'd ignore it too, or send a scathing reply! Typos are one thing, but text talk strikes me as being slobbish laziness, so no way would I entrust a horse to them.
 
Floxie said:
Afraid I agree - that's just lazy. Writing properly is important to me, so I don't have a lot of respect for someone who can't be bothered to do the same - and before the dyslexia argument springs up again, I do mean lazy writing, or writing that a spelling and grammar check could fix. It just puts me right off :)
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Perhaps because I have dyslexia and it is bloody hard for me to spell everything right I get very angry at those who don't try!

I like email for first point of contact,it feels less rude to me then a phone call.
In an email you can outline you horse experience, perhaps even attach a video or photos of you riding for the person to use when forming heir opinion.
 
I'm grumpy old woman and would find it hard not to reply "if you could rephrase your message into convential English I will attempt to respond".

Sadly sloppy meassaging are not the preserve of the young, my 50 year old friend is a horror for it - she know I just ignore her messages if she doesn't at least try to write in English.

As a Dyslexic myself I try very hard to get things right, I do make mistakes especially when I'm tired but I have enough self respect to work at overcoming my disability.
 
I completely agree, I am also an ARS and have had first-hand experience when I advertised my horse for loan. At the risk of taking this thread off on a tangent, i personally think this sort of response sums up the problem of why there is so much unemployment when there are still jobs available! (Sweepingly generalised I know but stick with me a moment.) If you feel that this is an acceptable way to respond to any sort of business scenario, be it in this case a potential personal business arrangement whereby you are looking to enter into a loan agreement, then the chances are fairly high that this is the standard of response that you feel is acceptable to approach other situations including employment. Having advertised on many occasions for a basic shop/office assistant I have had this same style of response to the job advert from several of the applicants. It is no wonder we have so many unemployed people in the country?!
Is it too much to ask that people take the effort to use common sense and respond to things accordingly and not wonder why if they don't they do not get the same opportunities!?
 
horserider said:
I'd rather they picked up the phone to communicate, Texting is rude, emailing only slightly less so.
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Well that rather depends upon what the advert says doesn't it. I have seen plenty where the first contact would have to be written, perhaps an advert in a facebook post for example.

Personally I preferred to make initial contact in writing (text or email) even if it was simply to say would it be convenient to call at x o'clock this evening. I don't like to make calls like this at work and I know that for many people my getting home time is their dinner time, or children's bath and bed time etc. A text or email can be checked and responded to at leisure and either the conversation can continue by text/email or a suitable time can be agreed to speak by phone.
 
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