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I have just Googled 'damn or damned' and was presented with a post on your site. Imagine my absolute horror when I saw in the explanation you gave, a grammatical error.

You write 'Damn'is a verb.....and can be used on it's own'. This literally reads 'and can be used on it is own' which is nonsensical. I fail to understand how a site about English grammar can make such a blatant error. Unfortunately, it is a very common mistake, along with they're and there that I notice in even professional writing. I despair. This surely is basic English grammar taught in the primary school. I would appreciate an answer and explanation. Do you not proof read your site insertions?

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    Hello, and welcome to the EL&U. Could you give us the link where you found the mistake? We can edit the post and correct it. Different users of different backgrounds post here so mistakes are unavoidable. Sometimes the speed of people's posting can be challenging and some mistakes may be overlooked unintentionally. I wouldn't be put off by the first mistake I encounter. – fev Dec 31 '20 at 12:46
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    Actually, no need. I found the post you mentioned and now it is corrected thanks to you. Please note that this site is very active and that, as you yourself point out, common mistakes are unavoidable even for English native speakers, let alone for foreign eager learners. So... do not despair! :) – fev Dec 31 '20 at 12:53
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    Its very common to use the wrong version of "its/it's" when writing a post. This is especially true when someone is posting a comment and fails to observe in it's text that his/her fingers have habitually typed the wrong thing. – Hot Licks Dec 31 '20 at 13:16
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    Surely, one answer by one user is enough to define a community of 315k. – niamulbengali Dec 31 '20 at 15:46
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    "We"'d better address the fact that "Imagine my absolute horror when I saw in the explanation you gave, a grammatical ..." contains a parenthetical (in the explanation you gave) which should according to traditional convention be set off by a pair of commas, brackets, or dashes, or according to modern minimalistic trends may (where acceptable, as here) have zero punctuation at each end. Or do "we" let that one go? Not as serious a deviation from accepted practice, but the broad-brush "you" is. I'd recommend you look at some of Professor John Lawler's posts here before you damn. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 31 '20 at 17:34
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    @niamulbengali Sitism? – Edwin Ashworth Dec 31 '20 at 18:00
  • Welcome to EL&U. Under every active post in the network you will find an improve this question link (or rather, now that you have created an account, an edit link) where you can submit suggestions to address tyopgraphical errors, formatting problems, malformed content, and the like. – choster Dec 31 '20 at 18:28
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    @fev I think correct spelling is in the I of the beholder. – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Monica Jan 1 at 4:32
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    Nor does one mistype condemn one person to illiteracy. (Had one mistype un my last comment so I deleted it). – fev Jan 1 at 8:58
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    Damn! There's an error on the internet! – JEL Jan 1 at 19:53
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As can be seen from comments,

We can edit the post and correct it. Different users of different backgrounds post here so mistakes are unavoidable. Sometimes the speed of people's posting can be challenging and some mistakes may be overlooked unintentionally.

As you yourself point out, common mistakes are unavoidable even for English native speakers, let alone for foreign eager learners.

The post has already been corrected.

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  • Excuse the interruption, but isn't this a question for Meta? – Conrado Dec 31 '20 at 14:40
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    @Conrado As you can see, that's where it is. – Andrew Leach Mod Dec 31 '20 at 14:42
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    Shucks, sorry! I do see now. Please, forgive my bumbling. Have a wonderful day, and beginning of next year, whatever it may bring. – Conrado Dec 31 '20 at 14:44
  • I had the thought that it is for Meta, but had no way of transferring. Thank you for doing it, @AndrewLeach. – fev Dec 31 '20 at 14:52
  • @fev Vote to close, as "Should be on another site", and choose Meta. It still takes five votes, but it puts the question into a queue for others to vote on too. – Andrew Leach Mod Dec 31 '20 at 14:57
  • I cannot VC yet :) – fev Dec 31 '20 at 14:57
  • I think VTC privileges come at 3000 rep. – Cascabel Dec 31 '20 at 16:27
  • This is true, although a closure flag is possible prior to actually being able to vote. – Andrew Leach Mod Dec 31 '20 at 16:29
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This question seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the nature of this site. The OP says 'you write . . .', apparently addressing the community of this site as a whole. The answers on this site are, however, not written by the community as a whole; they are written by individuals. It is the individual whose username appears below the answer that is responsible for the content of that answer, not the community as a whole. Any criticism of a particular answer is thus expected to take the form of a comment posted below that answer and/or downvoting the answer (or in the case of simple mistakes, such as this one, editing it). Admittedly, one cannot do any of that immediately upon joining the site.

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  • I came here to say this. – Mitch Jan 1 at 2:26
  • Shortly after joining ELU, I reacted in a rather similar way to the closing of a question on the then expression of lack-of-reasonable-research grounds, 'this question can be easily answered by looking in a single work of reference'. As I suspected, the first two online dictionaries I checked gave conflicting senses, which I felt made the OP a badly wronged person. I suppose the major fault was the wording of the stock comment (since thankfully improved somewhat) (there admittedly was no sign of any legwork done by OP). I'm fairly sure I'd have used passive constructions though. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 1 at 11:32

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