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Something wrong with her?

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Seriously, what's wrong with her? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.154.231.102 (talk) 05:05, 1 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know what that question even means, and that it was left anonymously probably means it wasn't intended to be nice... unless maybe it's sarcasm, suggesting, for example, that she couldn't possibly be as good as she is unless she were super-human or something. Sadly, I fear the question is in keeping with some of the cruel comments about her that I've seen in forums, chat rooms and news groups, or beneath news articles about her, suggesting that she looks and sounds "slow"; or that she's a "mouth breather"; or that she may suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, etc. None of those things are true, and shame on anyone for saying/writing them. She's a healthy, intelligent, gifted athlete, and that's the long and short of it. As for the "mouth breather" thing, who knows, maybe she is because of some kind of sinus issue or something; but it is pure myth and legend that "mouth breathers" are inherently dumb. Let's, please, not go down such awful anecdotal roads, here. And, everyone, please sign your posts!

Gregg L. DesElms (Username: Deselms) 17:38, 2 August 2012 (UTC)

It's more likely that she has a speech or hearing impairment, though she seemingly has never commented publicly about it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.132.189 (talk) 16:59, 11 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Capitalization after my colon in the very first paragraph

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I'm the one who put the colon there, and it was the right thing. However, I capitalized the first word after the colon because I'm kinda' old school, trained using the Chicago Manual of Style, and the APA Publication Manual, the former of which suggests always capitalizing after the colon, and the latter (being the most extreme) says to always do it, period. Back when I was in the newspaper business, the AP Style Manual also suggested always doing it; I have no idea if it still does. Consequently, capitalizing after the colon is the unthinking way that I always do it.

While I was still editing, Dirtlawyer1, who's clearly a stickler for proper grammar and punctuation (which, don't get me wrong, I really appreciate and agree is important) changed the first letter after the colon to lower-case, citing it as a capitalization error.

Had what followed the colon been an independent clause by virtue of its being a complete sentence, capable of standing on its own, I might be arguing the point with him; but I concede that most modern style manuals are easing-up on the "always capitalize after a colon" rule, and that such as Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) and MLA Formatting and Style Guide, would seem to agree. Plus, it was a dependent clause, in any case. So his was, in the end, a good edit. Thank you.

What it reminded me of, though, is just how much I've always hated being edited. [grin] I think that's why I strove to become a desk editor at the newspaper, so I could do it to others, but have it done less to me. Of course, even desk editors' work is reviewed by a "copy editor"... so I eventually became one of those, too (though it was many years ago).

Dirtlawyer1 is clearly very both experienced and good at it, though, and so my hat's off to him!

Gregg L. DesElms (Username: Deselms) 17:38, 2 August 2012 (UTC)

First sentence stubbornness

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When I took great pains to fix the first paragraph yesterday, I began it in largest measure because of its very first sentence: Allison Schmitt (born June 7, 1990) is an American swimmer who specializes in freestyle events and five-time Olympic medalist.

Said sentence makes no sense. Allison Schmitt does not specialise in being a five-time Olympic medalist. Even if we left it essentially as it is, but added a comma after "events" and the word "is" before "five time" it would at least improve it to the point that it finally makes a little sense. But what I did yesterday was far better.

Today, though, whomever wrote it in the first place (and we don't know who that is because s/he is only identified by an IP address... why are we allowing anonymous edits in the first place?) stubbornly came back in and returned it to its former ugliness; and has broken what was only one elegant paragraph into two.

I have no problem with the addition of detail about the five olympic medals (which is apparently what the anonymous writer wants to spotlight; and given recent events, that's probably appropriate), and so that all that was added before the part about the ten medals over the different competitions part is fine with at least me (though it could probably use some cleaning up). But to return to that godawful first sentence -- and then set it off by making it its own paragraph -- ugh!

So I'm gonna' fix it, yet again. But how do we stop this... this what amounts to grammatic vandalism?

Gregg L. DesElms (Username: Deselms) 20:36, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

Just fix it. No need to come here and ramble. Not everyone is as smart as you. 108.225.117.120 (talk) 20:38, 3 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Nor as anonymous as you. Maybe you could sign-up for an actual account with an actual username and be identifiable, eh? Maybe then you'd not feel so free to make such negative drive-by commentary. And to be clear, I DID fix it... worked hard on it yesterday, only to have someone -- I'm guessing it's you, based on how offended you seem to be by it -- come back and ignorantly and stubbornly undo it. To then come here and ridicule me for being concerned about about that, and how it borders on vandalism of the article, and bothering to document it, is just mean-spirited. Shame on you! And I notice that while I got distracted by a phone call after writing the above, but before actually fixing it, someone else tried... you, I'm guessing. It's still not quite right, but it's at least better. I'm now going to see if I can actually make it close to as nice as it was yesterday, but without undoing what I'm guessing your changing it back was trying to convey. I'm doing it that way because I want to respect your work, too. Would it be too much to ask that you respect mine and not undo it again, please? Between the two of us, it might actually finally get done right! Remember that we're all supposed to be contributing to making it better, not trying to establish turf and stubbornly insisting that it be our way. I'm happy for others to change things, but please just don't make it worse! Finally, create a damned account here, will ya'; and then sign your posts with the four tildes! Stand by your work with your name... or at least a pseudonym or alias or handle or whatever you want to call it. Be accountable, and have a "Talk" page were such as I can communicate with you when it's necessary. Had you done that, this all could have been resolved in a far more friendly manner than all this. Gregg L. DesElms (Username: Deselms) 22:10, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
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