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[flame99]

Well, first thing is capitalization, second is replace most of your "..." with commas. Also, one punctuation per sentence is necessary, unless it's really strong emotion in something like, say, a forum game.

[Azated]

replace most of your "..." with commas. .

'...' instead of ',' is one of my pet hates. I feel the slightest amount of intense homicidal rage every time I see three periods instead of a comma.

And to EnderCrypt, you seem like you're typing how you speak. The difference between typing and speaking is that when typing, you have time to think about your words and plan them, making sure they make sense in the sentence as a whole. While talking, it's usually just a "words come out i hope they make sense you understand me right?" dealio. At least it is for me.

[Mephansteras]

really?? im that bad.. i didnt think i was that... bad.. ... what did do wrong?

I'm going to clean up one of your posts for you so you can see what people are looking for. Basically, as Azated said, you seem like you're trying to type as if you are speaking. Written communication works a bit better if you adapt your language a bit and focus on proper grammar and punctuation.

For example:

First, I would recommend to spell better

what you mean?, and i am always having happiness as priority 1, i also read the wiki or minor help, on things like buildings..  how to overall get iron? lol... is there several ores that produces it? and yeah, i already know dwarf fortres is the .. how should i say it.. mother of all games like.. minecaft, towns, and that 

Would become something like this:

What do you mean? I always have my dwarves happiness as priority #1.

I've also read the wiki and have looked around for help in the forums when I couldn't figure something out. Stuff like Buildings or 'what's the best way to get iron?'. The Wiki is great!

I do know that Dwarf Fortress is basically the Mother of all mining/building games like Minecraft, Towns, etc.


Not trying to be snarky or anything. But you can see how when things are cleaned up a bit and broken into paragraphs it is easier to read and figure out what you're talking about. Doesn't sound like it's too important, but in many cases if people can't easily figure out what you're trying to communicate they'll simply skip over your post and move on.

Proper communication helps you as much as it does the people you're trying to communicate with.

[EnderCrypt]

but i always write "..." when i dont know to say... or when im silent, yeah maybe i should write how i think, almost did it again god dangit.
maye i should just write 1 or 2 lines on every post instead, well i should just rely on the wiki then, instead of asking people in the forum, at all.

[Deathworks]

Dear EnderCrypt!

First of all, welcome to this wonderful game and its community. I hope you will enjoy both, and I am quite optimistic about that.

Now, as for your posts, I think it would be a pity if you refrained from participating in the community. As you can see, the forums are a wide space with people with different foci and interests using different parts of the boards more or less, and there are a lot of interesting discussions and stories to enjoy and to participate in. So, not participating in the community would be a real loss for you.

As for your writing problems, I recommend that you give yourself a bit more time to write and proof-read your posts. These are not tweets or chat-room entries, so you can spend as much time on a single post as you like. Thus, you can thoroughly check that you have full sentences, each starting with a capitalized word and ending with a full stop ('.').

I hope you don't mind me asking, but is English your native language, or is it a second language to you? Your comment about not knowing what to say made me wonder.

The people here are usually very friendly and helpful, so if you give them a fair deal, I am sure they will respond in kind.

Yours,
Deathworks

[EnderCrypt]

Yeah im swedish. Btw thank you the tips.

[Mephansteras]

but i always write "..." when i dont know to say... or when im silent, yeah maybe i should write how i think, almost did it again god dangit.
maye i should just write 1 or 2 lines on every post instead, well i should just rely on the wiki then, instead of asking people in the forum, at all.

It just takes practice. I'd say make sure you capitalize everything and instead of using '...' so often put in a new line instead. It breaks things up just as well but is more readable. Save '...' for when you want people to know that you're thinking or don't know what to say rather then always typing it out as you think.

And since English isn't your first language, maybe just stick that down in your sig so people know to cut you some slack.

And welcome to the forums!

[EnderCrypt]

Thanks, well im always... being like "what should i say", you know, or when im silent, yeah or thinking.

[Boozebeard]

Grammar Lessons With Bay12!

[Loud Whispers]

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!!

Skulls for the skull throne!

SOAP FOR THE SOAP GOD!

GRAMMAR FOR THE GRAMMARDOME!

Welcome to Bay12 Swedish friend! Your grammar is actually quite adequate, so give it some time and you'll be mashing keyboards like any other

[Deathworks]

Hello EnderCrypt!

Mephansteras made a very good recommendation there. Putting something like "English isn't my first language, so please forgive me if my English is not perfect." into your signature can help you and the rest of the community avoid unnecessary confusion. As I mentioned before, not everyone reads everything, so this thread may be unknown to a lot of people.

As for general rules, I advice that you check up on the basics, as they are a very easy way to improve the impression of your posts. The personal pronoun, first person singular ("I") is always capitalized in English. It is odd, I know, but that's a simple rule, and missing that one sticks out quite harshly. If the copula "be" or auxillary verbs like "will" are shortened, don't forget the apostrophe ("'"): I am -> I'm ; you will -> you'll
I know this may sound tedious, but these are the words and word combinations you will be using most often, so getting them right will have a major effect on things. And always capitalize nation names and adjectives describing nationality: I am Swedish; I am German.

In general, I want to make three recommendations:
Read a lot: Reading the posts of fellow forumites gives you an impression of the accepted style of English here on the forums. Language is a very dynamic thing, and there are lots of various sociolects. What is alright for one group of people may be intolerable for others. In addition, reading a language gives you a feeling for the flow, helping you to subconsciously structure your sentences. Beware, however, of threads which are games or jokingly working with the language, as they may deliberately deviate from the norm.

Personally, I recommend the "What's going on in your Fortress/Adventure", and "Note to Urist" threads, as they sometimes include small stories, but there are many, many more enjoyable threads especially in the Dwarf Mode and Adventure Mode sub forums.

Use a dictionary: I know, this may sound like a lot of work, but in the end, it usually pays off as it allows you to express yourself efficiently. And over time, you will learn the words you look up regularly, meaning that you will not have to use the dictionary that often. I recommend that you stay clear of translation machines as they may produce sentences that are seriously mutilated or fail to convey the original meaning. It is safer to simply check individual words in a bilingual, bidirectional dictionary.

Paraphrase: Alternatively, you can try to paraphrase what you are trying to say. That is, you write two sentences instead of one, using the additional space to describe the concept for which the proper word is lacking. People will not be mad at you if your posts are a bit longer because of that, so don't worry about that.

I apologize if I sound too much like a teacher, but I felt the need to give that advice. I hope my recommendations are somewhat helpful.

Yours,
Deathworks

[Azated]

-asnip-

My first thought upon seeing your post was "Bro... alright?".

Essentially meaning, dammit Deathworks! We were on a roll! You had to come in and be the good guy, giving advice and generally being more helpful than the rest of us. I hope you feel bad, knowing that you helped a new swedish forumite adapt to the ways of rome bay12. Burn in the bliss of afterlife, you helpful heathen!

[MaximumZero]

To answer the original question, I usually run under the assumption that the player is Armok, the God of Blood. That's why you set up a fort, in the middle of nowhere, only to be attacked by essentially everything under the sun.

BLOOD FOR ME, uh...I mean, THE BLOOD GOD!

[Loud Whispers]

-asnip-

My first thought upon seeing your post was "Bro... alright?".

..."Alright" is not a word.

Ho ho ho.

It comes from British slang, whereupon we say; "All right?"
Followed by "all right."
Then you lot heard it was all the jazz and cobbled it together into one horrible non-word. Alwrite?

[martinuzz]

..."Alright" is not a word.

Ho ho ho.

It comes from British slang, whereupon we say; "All right?"
Followed by "all right."
Then you lot heard it was all the jazz and cobbled it together into one horrible non-word. Alwrite?

Aight