"We check our mail dozen times a day."
No. We check our mail a dozen times a day.
Seeing the number of possessive its with an apostrophe on HN I can cope with someone using English as a second language making a minor grammar error.
First impressions are very important; I too find copy errors an indication of an inadequate effort to communicate effectively. However, that doesn't validate a malicious attempt to bash the writer(s) when a simple correction would have sufficed.
Asides from that, why post a correction here? Only other HN readers are going to see it, which inherently means you aren't writing the comment in the hopes of them fixing it, but to show the error to other commenters. Perhaps malicious was the wrong term, but your comment certainly wasn't trying to help them improve their copy.
* Check that your font doesn't do anything crazy, like make "I" look like "J" - come on, the sixth word on the page looks like it has a spelling mistake
* Check your grammar. I know it's pernickety but if I'm hiring a designer I expect attention to detail, and if someone doesn't get someone to cast a cursory glance over their work before inviting thousands of people to look at it, what does that say about how much effort and pride they put into their work?
* Check your spelling, I saw at least one fairly basic mistake (for rationale see above)
Personally, I don't care for it...
The rest, yeah, I agree with you. Get someone that speaks the language to spell and grammar check.
The reality is that if something isn't written well, the design is not going to wow me by itself. Good writing is a requirement, not an option, for great sites.
That said, I agree the redesign is misguided. But it's certainly gotten them some attention.
