Originally posted by NikeeGoddess
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But this "idiot" stuff is really the crux of it -- that kind of reaction is what prompted me to post on this topic in the first place, after people went nuts over the idea that a contest reader had told a writer that he should put two spaces after a period. First, the assertion was, "Nobody reading a script cares about how many spaces are after a period." Then, after examples were given of readers (and writers) who apparently DO care, the response was, "Well, anybody who cares about the number of spaces after a period is an idiot." I don't think that's a great attitude to have. You might think that a reader who cares about spaces is an idiot, but if it was worth trying to get your script into that person's hands in the first place, don't you want to do everything you can to make him or her favorably disposed to it? If it appears that even a few readers are bothered by a writer using only one space, why not err on the side of caution and use two spaces, which has the added benefit of being grammatically correct? To my knowledge, no one has yet claimed that a reader complained about two spaces -- and even many of the posters (including Greg) who've said it doesn't matter also say that they personally use two spaces -- so there's no downside to going that way. This isn't a "forest for the trees" issue and it's not clinging to a technicality as some kind of a security blanket. It's just respecting the preferences of some readers who adhere to the traditional rule and may be distracted by an error (or what they perceive to be an error) repeated countless times throughout a script. Contrary to Greg's suggestion, people generally don't "allow" themselves to be distracted by something -- they just get distracted. If a writer used blue font, that might be distracting, too, even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the script.
People obviously can do what they want. But, to me, it all boils down to:
One space -- becoming more accepted, but might be problematic to a few readers who follow the traditional rule.
Two spaces -- can't go wrong.
I believe the choice is clear. But either way, no one's an idiot just for giving it some thought.
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