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thepenismighty ago

Thank you for the welcome (or welcome back)! I've only been (back) here for a few days but I wanted to express my appreciation for something I only recently realized. Like many here, I once lurked /r/greatawakening to follow the q saga and dream about a better world with tens of thousands of my fellow Americans and like-minded people across the globe. I loved keeping up with all the great information and discussion percolating through that sub, but was always dismayed by the consistent (albeit not universal) lack of basic grammar and spelling in the posts and comments there. Over time I even began to suspect whether those posters were not native English speakers despite holding themselves out as such (I am reluctant to accuse anyone of being a "shill" without substantial evidence, but this really made me wonder).

I, myself, am a child of immigrants and English is technically my second language. Imagine my disappointment when people seemingly refused to acknowledge the differences between there/their/they're, except/accept, and counsel/council. I know English isn't the most internally consistent language and these things can be confusing, but native speakers should have sorted out these differences in elementary school.

Now I'm here on /v/, and aside from the initial flood of "canary traps" purportedly attributed to the latest wave of /r/efugees, it strikes me that I see far fewer basic grammar mistakes than I did on that other site. Just wanted to express my appreciation to every American here who actually speaks English properly (of course, with accommodations for recent immigrants or others who do not speak English natively).