I have to wonder, sometimes

I have a form on my site asking for people to define what they feel a webmaster is. It asks:

“Share your thoughts. What is a webmaster?”

And I received this reply:

“Title: Webmaster description…OMG                 I just read several responses to what others opinion are regarding what a webmaster is and quite frankly, the grammar, spelling, and English are deplorable. If one cannot master the fundamentals of communication, then the game is over. Webmasters will become specialized because of their skills and not because of a simple desire and a minimal education. How would like to go to a dentist who was self taught and just got by in school? Ouch………..”

I am not going to post it, because it doesn’t answer the question, but it does prompt me to ask the author:

  1. Do you really equate building Web pages with dentistry? You’re right, I wouldn’t want to go to a self-taught dentist, but a Webmaster isn’t going to inflict actual pain on me if they do something wrong.
  2. Has it occurred to you that perhaps the people whose grammar and spelling you are deploring are actually non-English speakers? Just because they are learning Web design from an English-language website doesn’t mean that they can’t make completely accurate websites in their native tongue.
  3. And finally, what does it say about you personally that you feel that a slam on random strangers is a legitimate answer to a completely different question. I asked you to define what a Webmaster is, not what it isn’t or what your opinion is of the other people writing. I could ask you if you are capable of reading and make comments about communication in your favor as well. But I won’t, much…

I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised that people just feel the need to rant and rave in any forum. But honestly, keep your vitriol out of my living room. If you feel the need to get out your shiny metal grammar police badge, I feel the need to walk away. Go police some other site. Which brings me to one other thing. Spammers. Who the heck knows how they think really? And yes, I know that it’s all automated. But MAN, why would they think that if one spammy message hawking their enlarging wares got blocked, that 100 more would magically get through. I know, I know, they just set up their spam fire hose and aim it at the universe, and since they’re spewing out such a huge amount of spiced pork, some of it has to stick somewhere. I do feel badly for the false positives, however, as man, wading through the morass of crap is not something I’m particularly interested in doing very often.