For example, app.net was never in the being ignored phase, it's got plenty of hype and it doesn't even exist yet.
Also, there's plenty of things that get mocked and nothing more. Sometimes laughter results from fear, sometimes it just results from genuinely finding something hilarious.
But thanks for comparing app.net with Gandhi, that just made it funnier :P
Oh the irony.
“Not to be confused with Murphy's law.”
Muphry's Law is something different (yet related).
In that case....
"wrong" and "right" are adjectives, while "writing" is a verb which you are using the words "wrong" and "right" to modify. However, adjectives should only be used to modify nouns and pronouns, not verbs. In this case you should use an adverb:
why get used to writing stuff incorrectly, when I can get used to writing them correctly
If you prefer, you can use "writing" as a noun and continue to use "right" and "wrong":
why get used to the wrong way of writing when I can get used to the right way
I hate people who correct grammar on the internet, but you did make the mistake of asking. Sorry.
(tee-hee :)
Please, no. I avoid taking part in grammar threads, but a plea for more has drawn me out. There are few things that derail conversations more than pedantic quibbling about "do" or "make". Take a look at this subthread: a bunch of people who feel better about how they've shown themselves able to one-up others but zero interesting discussion.
</rant>
My biggest feature request for HN: private comments. Let me reply to a poster privately. Then if I see somebody who looks like a non-English speaker who has made a mistake or somebody who has misspelled a name, I can correct them without causing this kind of useless thread. Not to mention private conversations (where you could say more than you are willing to say publicly) started around interesting comments could turn epic.
That said, I still agree with your complaint. Marking a reply as off-topic (voluntarily, though of course admins should be able to override this), with each comment potentially having a sub-thread with off-topic replies, is something I'd like to see here, and have planned for my own CMS. Best of both worlds, and with unlimited nesting of that, you could even go off-off-topic, or off-off-off-topic.
or
You see this mistake frequently.
I don't normally do these corrections, but I can't help myself in this case.
> do these corrections
ad infinitum