I think there is something off about the spell check system.  With the exception of spelling AmTrak (thanks so much to my friend who had my back on that one!) I am generally a good speller so it surprises me when I use spell check and most of the time the word I intended is not on the list.  I don't notice this at other sites I write for.  Has anyone else noticed this?

Here are some examples:

prosective wouldn't give me prospective

similiar wouldn't give me similar

arsonel wouldn't give me arsenal

Does anyone else have examples to offer?

Thanks Angela! These examples are so, so helpful. We are starting to hear a few more complaints about the Spell Checker and will work to better it in the near future.

Here's more examples:

seperate gave separated but not separate

regurlar gave me regulars but not regular

Hello!  I just published a review (Lean Pockets Chicken Parmesan) and voted, "NO" I would not recommend this product to a friend.  When I viewed it after publishing, it says "YES" I would recommend this product to a friend.  I went in 4 times and changed it back to NO and after I hit save and read the review, it still says YES.  Thanks for your help!

While I was trying to "spell check" my review, the page froze up and now it looks like I will have to rewrite my whole review.

New problem!  I have tried several times to publish a review and it won't move from the drafts section.  Each time I hit "publish" and go to see my review, it isn't published at all, but still in draft form.  The first time it happened, I assumed it was operator error and I accidentally hit "save draft", but after several unsuccessful attempts, I think there is a problem.  I don't know if it helps, but the review that won't publish is: Joey New York Pure Pores Pore Minimizer Foundation.

Whether or not it is recommended by me is missing from the bottom of some of my reviews, I know on Shades of Green and Buxton Bag they are missing. I don't want to comb through all the reviews to see which ones are missing, but I will if it's necessary. :\

I have a horrible time with the spell checker. I use it to show misspelled words, but most of the time I have to type in the correct spelling myself. It will rarely show the singular form of a word as the alternative. It usually has an -s or an -ed on the end or splits a word like "internet" into two words, and sometimes the two words are not even words themselves. If I say ignore, it freezes, which is why I save before spell-checking.

Just wondering: Is the Indent function working again?  Can we do block quotes in our reviews now?

In the past I could post a link to a review or person on the discussion boards.  I just posted a comment on the Holiday movie discussion board and when I went to link to The Christmas Shoes and CoupleOnCloud9 I got an error msg regarding hotmail, blah, blah, blah.  Are we no longer able to put links in the comments? 

GigiandAdonai said…

In the past I could post a link to a review or person on the discussion boards.  I just posted a comment on the Holiday movie discussion board and when I went to link to The Christmas Shoes and CoupleOnCloud9 I got an error msg regarding hotmail, blah, blah, blah.  Are we no longer able to put links in the comments? 

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This is a technical bug we are logging to fix. We do plan to continue allowing internal linking to Viewpoints web pages. Sorry for the error, we hope to have it fixed soon. I want it back really bad too! :)

pitcherday said…

I have a horrible time with the spell checker. I use it to show misspelled words, but most of the time I have to type in the correct spelling myself. It will rarely show the singular form of a word as the alternative. It usually has an -s or an -ed on the end or splits a word like "internet" into two words, and sometimes the two words are not even words themselves. If I say ignore, it freezes, which is why I save before spell-checking.

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Agreed! Improving the spell checker is on the list of enhancements. We appreciate your patience as we work to make it better. Also, thank you for providing examples. A lot of you have helped in this way!

GigiandAdonai said…

Just wondering: Is the Indent function working again?  Can we do block quotes in our reviews now?

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I will try it in Internet Explorer and FireFox web browsers. If you try as well, please let me know what results you see.

Four times I have hit publish and it has went to the new pending review page.  It's still in drafts, so no worries but would like to publish.  Thanks so much!

AngelaWLaFon said…

Four times I have hit publish and it has went to the new pending review page.  It's still in drafts, so no worries but would like to publish.  Thanks so much!

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I have that same problem!

I just tried again, it has been about four hours now, and it is still happening.  I did see that one of my friends published in the last hour so it must not be site wide.

For me, it is just a review that has been sitting in my draft folder, not a freshly written review from scratch and then tried to publish immediately.  It also goes to the "pending" screen.  I can publish different reviews though.

HMMM.. I don't have another review ready to go to test that out at this point but I thought I should also mention...

In the past when we checked the "yes" I would recommend this review box & saved a review (although I was trying to publish not save) the box stayed checked when we returned.  I've noticed recently even before this issue that you have to check the box again.  That's not uncommon on other sites I've written for that certain boxes (i.e. photo submission agreement at AC) have to be rechecked any time you leave a page so maybe this is now intentional but it is new.  I'll try a new review when I get a chance and see what happens.

For the wonderful powers that be... the review is Colgate 360 and I am using Firefox.  Thanks!

I remember one of the books that I was trying to do block quote on so I will go there and see if I can do it.  Thank you, muchas gracias!!

I'm stuck in draft mode! I wrote a long comparison review with pics, etc. and did save in draft several times while writing it. Now, I can't get it OUT of draft to publish it. I tried several times. Helpppppppppppppppp!

FYI: It's Zoya vs Opi in drafts written today.

Okay, it appears that the Indent function for block quotes is up and running again!  I just went and edited a book review and let the block quote through this time.  Yay!  And who said little things don't matter :+)

Now I am experiencing my 3rd problem in two days.  I just lost my whole review.  I wrote a review, clicked "save draft" and when I went to my draft folder to look at my review, all the text I had written disappeared.  I tried it again and lost it all again too.

pitcherday said…

I have a horrible time with the spell checker. I use it to show misspelled words, but most of the time I have to type in the correct spelling myself. It will rarely show the singular form of a word as the alternative. It usually has an -s or an -ed on the end or splits a word like "internet" into two words, and sometimes the two words are not even words themselves. If I say ignore, it freezes, which is why I save before spell-checking.

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The spell checker is poopy. It's getting worse too. Now it isn't even recognizing blatant misspelled words. When it does, it gives me the strangest set of replacement words, none of which are even close to the word I was TRYING to spell. I do have ie spell on every computer I own and swear by it. (I use Firefox but ie spell works with any browser and is very good for a little spell checker!) I use that first to clean up the review then I use the VP spell checker to see if it picks up anything else.

I really find the spell checker useless so I use ie spell for just about all my spell checking here. I need it because I type like a monkey (and I look like one too. I know, I know...)

Sometimes the thing freezes up and I lose my review. I say bad words to the spell checker. I beg it to release my review from its clutches. I promise to type better and not make so many mistakes. But it still steals my review, leaving me to say for the millionth time, "I should have written this review in a word processor first!"

Maybe you should have hit publish and it would have went to draft/pending like mine are.  I am kidding.  SO sorry that happened to you. It's awful to lose your work.  I think I am going to chill here until I here something is resolved.

I just wrote a review, and I cannot save that I recommend what I'm reviewing.  Whenever I go to edit the review, it shows that I have not selected whether or not I recommend the product.

I'm now noticing the same error on the previous review that as wrote, too.  So, it's the last two reviews where I'm having this problem.

I'm going to look for ie spell. Sometimes the VP spell checker actually suggests words that I know for a fact are not real words. Usually if the screen seems frozen and I wait enough, IE8 will tell me there is a script running that is slowing down my browser, then I hit the button to stop it. Yeah, i will check out writing in a word processor too.... seems safer considering all the publishing problems people seem to be having lately.

Oh, I made one of ChrisJarmick's reviews a favorite and when I did, the screen turned gray and froze. So, there's another one. MSIE 8.0

Thanks for reminding me about the spell checker.  If I make a typo, the correct word is never, ever, ever among the suggested words, even if I'm just off by one letter.  In the last review I wrote, I used the word "overdraft" and left out the 'f'.  When I went to the spell-checker, the word "overdraft" was not among the suggested words.  That's insane.  I had to close the spell-checker, go back to the word, and make the correction manually, like I always do.

http://www.iespell.com/

That spell checker will work with any browser and in almost any application where you type. It will underline in red misspelled words and will give much better suggestions than this one does now. It's not perfect but wayyyy better than nothing and, at the moment, the current spell checker embedded here. It takes up no space and works behind the scenes. I even use it on Twitter to spell check my little tweets. I type so fast and can't even see my own dang errors!

And it's free, free, free!