Spell checkers, boon or bane?

[Londo Mollari]

I tend to ignore my spell checker as half the time it doesn't know what it's talking about. What I find most annoying is when Word will turn words that it doesn't know (but that I do) into words it does know using AutoCorrect.

My own name (Adib) shows up as misspelled. I tend to just turn the damned thing off.  

[Astral Sun]

Spellcheckers are handy for finding those inevitable little keyboard slips. However, many people abuse them by relying on the checker to spell words correctly rather than referring to a dictionary when in doubt of a word's spelling. The trick is to be sure you are not relying on the spell checker; always go back and proofread what you've typed before posting or printing it.  

[omiyashi0]

Yami no Hitokiri

I'd like everyone's opinion on spell checkers, like the one built into MS Word and the Firefox extensions that can be downloaded. Are these a good thing because they catch spelling mistakes, or do they encourage laziness because people don't feel the need to proofread anymore?

I think they're alright, but should never be used as a substitute for proof reading. For one, they're not entirely accurate. "Ewe like two go too there house" wouldn't be flagged because all the words in the sentence are in the dictionary. When I first started using Word with its spell checker, I noticed that it lets some stuff get by, so now I do use it to run through what I write, but I also proof read.

Right, spell-checkers, or at least the ones I've dealt with, are dumb. Homophones always slip through the cracks. The ones that try to correct your grammar are even worse. I realize nothing is perfect, I use the spell-checkers, but in the end, I'll proofread my work. They're O.K.  

[Drudra]

I myself have become a lazy typer because of spell check. I rely on it to capitolize my "i"s and to properly arrange my "hte"s, and so forth.
It is a nightmare for homophones, though. Even I have had a few slip through because I rely on spell check to tell me when something's wrong. *sigh* So now I also proof everything. Hard copy. For some reason it's much harder for me to catch spelling errors and word switch-up on screen than on paper  

[Lacus_And_Kira]

Spell checkers have their place in today's busy society as they are pretty useful.
I find though that I perfer just proofreading the document myself as spell check is not entirely reliable for certain words and can be a total pain for homophones. The grammar check is a bit of a pain as well.  

[silentsouless]

Spell checkers are so full of glitches, that they're almost useless.  

[ph34r_meh]

I really only use spell checkers because I'm not spectacular at typing, so it isn't really that I don't know how a word is spelled, I just make a typing mistake. It helps me catch ones that I missed during a proofread. I doesn't substitute for proofreading, though, because you will always find something that the spell check or grammar check didn't catch.  

[Mystery24]

Spell checkers are very useful and I use them often but you have to be careful because they are not always right. I consider them a convenient tool to use during proof reading. I’d rather not leaf through a dictionary for every little word that might be spelled wrong. xp  

[Dreaming in the Theatre]

Once again, all I can say is I'm on middle ground for this topic.

I type about 100 words or so a minute, but with the mistakes I make, it's usually whittled down to 88 or so. This means that every minute, I type about 10 words wrong, so, yes, spellcheck is important to me. I don't always go back over my work that carefully, but when I see glaring!lines I usually do back to edit that word.

It's also useful because I'm not the best speller around. I certainly wouldn't win any spelling bee. sweatdrop So, I think it's rather useful.

However, it is no excuse not to go back and edit. Grammar is not checked completely by spellcheck. After all, a computer is just technology, and it does not take into account run-on sentences or other minor details. The English language has a lot of (rather occasionally pointless) rules, and most of them just can't be tailored to be checked by technology!

So, I say use it while you can (I myself use it for Firefox and MS), but always go back and edit.

 

[DJ_blak jak]

Actually I make it a personal goal to purposedly avoid using a spellchecker. I usually consult an online dictionary and thesaurus instead.

This not only forces me to make sure that I spell a word correctly, but that I use word in its proper context. In fact it often turns out that a better word could be used instead of the original one, especially if I have am unsure of is correct spelling.

It also helps to learn the latin and greek roots of words. smile  

[illustratinloue]

I was raised in France so English isn't my first language so spell check was my friend at one point. However after having re-read what I had just typed I noticed that a lot of mistakes were still in the document. Thus I now re-read and do the famous F7.  

[Sakura.no.Yuki]

I use a spell checker, because it came along with my FireFox update.
Sometimes, I type quickly and mix up letters, which get people confused on what I type..  

[Sachiko13]

One problem that I have with the newer spell checkers is that they automatically capitalize the first word of every sentence, all isolated "I's", and important words. I got so used to it at one point, I often forgot to capitalize everything. Now, however, I have an old laptop that's from 1995 and doesn't do that, so I am now used to doing my own capitalization.  

[The_0ther_Account]

I rarely use them. Sometimes they make mistakes, or don't catch half of the errors.  

[Natawee!]

I use spell check when it is reliable.
I am at times a pretty bad speller, but I usually look it up in the dictionary to help me spell it.
I only do that because I like to make sure that I have the defeniation right as well.