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Stack Overflow is a great tool for programmers, and I can definitely see the potential for using the same format towards Spanish.

Having said that, I see some deficiencies compared to the traditional go to: WordReference Forums.

Based on my first impressions, there isn't really any culture of correcting bad Spanish. When I say this, I mean not only in regards to the actual question being asked, but bad Spanish being used in the comments, or that has been used to provide context/more information for the question.

Although WordReference has no mechanism to reward posters for correcting people, it is usually a given that members will correct bad Spanish when possible.

I think Spanish Stack Exchange can improve upon this by directly rewarding members for taking the initiative to correct bad Spanish.

This would not only lead to higher quality Spanish being used on the part of members overtime, but also remove any inhibitions not to do so out of fear of making (read: solidifying) mistakes and errors.

Otherwise, we are only encouraging people to ask in English(which I find counter-productive) or turning a blind-eye to bad Spanish being spoken (which I assumed was this site's goal to improve upon).

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The StackExchange software already offers several incentives for improving other posts, which naturally includes improving Spanish grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.

And of course there is the altruistic motive of simply making the site better.

Do you feel like something further is warranted? Do you have something specific in mind?

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  • I see, but can you also edit other people's comments?
    – Five Points
    Commented Jun 28, 2013 at 20:01
  • No, only moderators can edit others' comments.
    – Flimzy Mod
    Commented Jun 28, 2013 at 20:11
  • Well, that's what I mean. In WR, you can correct people anywhere on the fly, not so much here.
    – Five Points
    Commented Jun 28, 2013 at 20:56
  • Here comments are considered more or less disposable. they are intended to help improve the content of the questions and answers, and may be deleted at any time. Spending a lot of time correcting comments wouldn't be an especially valuable exercise, since the comments could be deleted.
    – Flimzy Mod
    Commented Jun 28, 2013 at 20:58
  • Despite adding an incentive for people to both correct and be corrected. I guess if the site is mainly to be used for usage, then what differentiates it from word reference? They also answer questions on usage and they correct you.
    – Five Points
    Commented Jun 28, 2013 at 22:45
  • I have never used Word Reference, so I can't say. But this site is about a lot more than just words.
    – Flimzy Mod
    Commented Jun 29, 2013 at 0:30
  • Well, this site works a lot like the forums, where people ask how and when a part of speech should be used. I see that it has a cleaner system of separating quality questions/answers from garbage. But isn't improving people's language skills the ultimate goal? Or have I been mistaken?
    – Five Points
    Commented Jun 29, 2013 at 3:36
  • You said that comments were more or less disposable, but they are allowed to be voted up, right? Even if they were deleted, I don't know why it would be a waste of time to reward people for correcting people: the corrector would have received his points, and the corrected would have gained invaluable language assistance. Everyone wins, except that future member who hasn't seen it yet, on that rare occasion. I'd take the chances.
    – Five Points
    Commented Jun 29, 2013 at 5:41
  • Every edit made on a regular post is tracked, with full history, and the ability to roll-back edits. This is not done for comments, and adding that would be a lot of work for very little gain, I suspect. You could propose this as a feature request on Meta.SE, but I'm pretty sure I know what the answer will be. :)
    – Flimzy Mod
    Commented Jun 29, 2013 at 6:25
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    @Flimzy your comments on the merit of improving comments are on target as far as the value of the comment to future readers goes. But there's another consideration, one that doesn't apply in areas like SO. Correcting somebody's bad Spanish can help the author of the bad Spanish, in ways the author may not have explicitly requested. It goes without saying that most of us would like our Spanish errors pointed out to us. The analogous situation in SO would only occur in code blocks, which don't occur in comments, to my knowledge.
    – Walter Mitty
    Commented Jul 13, 2013 at 17:24

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