Hey Lin,

You caught me at 10:00 p.m. after just walking into my home office after our quarterly meeting...very long day, however, I have just about enough energy to deal with what I have "perceived" to be a statement directed at me ("self appointed board proctor"...hhmmm, that is exactly what another abstractor from your state whom you are very close to called me...I think you know him???).  If it is not directed at me, then I am happy to see others on this site take pride in how the industry they work in is perceived via the grammar and spelling within the posts of other industry "professionals" on a NATIONAL LEVEL.

Once again, you obviously have not taken the time to read my threads from the past.  You state in your latest post, "....we seem to have some people here who go out of their way to jump on anyone who makes a spelling error in a post.."

Just for you, I am going to attempt to restate my position on spelling and grammar in relation to NATIONALLY LISTED THREADS!  Here it goes:  If you choose to represent your business and the product/service it offers via poor grammar, spelling errors, etc., please take into consideration how it makes the rest of us look in the eyes of client base professionals.

It is not hard to run spell check and proof your posts prior to submitting them.  Equally, it is not hard to verify the Book and Page of a Deed prior to sending the information to the client.  However, if you are not one to proof the first, do you actually believe potential clients will feel confident that you will proof the second?

When "typos" or "unproofed" work is transmitted, it begins casting a poor light on the human abstractor, thus, potentially swaying said client to use on-line services (because hey, computers NEVER make mistakes).  It is all perception, however, I am sure you can understand how difficult it is to expect a client base professional to hang on after they have heard "hey, we are all human and make mistakes" time, after time, after time.  Sooner or later, human error will be replaced by on-line data.  We are watching it happen right in front of our faces every day.  

All in all, we all make mistakes.  None of us are perfect, nor, ever will be.  However, running spell check and proof reading our personal threads prior to sending them may just make ourselves and others in this industry look better to the client base.  They may even say, "hey, if the guy takes pride in his NATIONALLY POSTED THREADS, then he/she must take pride in the product/service I am going to receive from his/her company.

Trust me, I am not an english teacher (however, my wife is).  I hold a Master's Degree in Business Management, not literature or english history or the evolution of writing.  I am not perfect, nor do I expect anyone to be.  I do, however, feel strongly in perception and taking pride in my industry.   

The abstractors who provide searches to my company, Statewide Settlement, Inc. do take pride in their product.  Believe me, if they did not take a moment to review chain, spelling and grammar, they would not receive orders from us.  End of discussion. 

Finally, yet most importantly, to HUMAN client base professionals like me who operate on a national level, always looking for abstractors, signing agents, attorney's and other industry professionals across the country, (NOT the on-line predators that we hear horror stories about), commitment and pride in product and service is represented in many ways......sometimes, least of which are turn around times and fees.

JT