Break it down!

I'm a secretary, so I type around 60 wpm. The funny thing is, I dropped typing after the first quarter in my Sophmore year of HS because I couldn't take the pressure. The teacher would say "Begin" and my hands would freeze up. I was there long enough to learn the home row. But through the years of being online and doing online chat, I've picked up some speed.

This is really handy in SL. But it doesn't help if the person you are "talking" to is a two finger hunt and peck. Sometimes I'm waiting what seems like minutes as someone's types a response. Sometimes it's a few sentences at a time.

I would like to suggest to anyone who is a slow typist, to break it down. It's so much better to see a few short sentences in a row, then to wait for a whole paragraph.

I know it's not a big deal, and there are more important issues out there, but I thought if I could prevent someone else from the "wait", it would be worth it.



"This is merely my opinion, babblings, I'm sick and hot and I am spending way too much time on the forums today. Anything I write is just opinions and in no way shape or form meant to be fact or the only choice for anyone involved. In fact, please disregard if you feel they are contrary to your own opinions and feel free to offer your own solution. Sorry for bothering you, have a nice day."

From: Seth Kanahoe

Thank you for spewing sense into this thread.

I get upwards of 60-70wpm, but I make a few mistakes. I don't really have any tricks, though.

I agree April - break them up in short sentences - always do - Dont rewrite the bible in one long sentence every time...

I myself on op of the two finger walz on the keyboard.. also are bad in spelling (try to read it before I send it) and then also English are my second language so some times are used to do a small check up...

I do short ones and many... more should DO!!

I'm the opposite. I don't like it when chat is broken up in short utterances. I guess it's cuz I'm a fast reader, so I'm still waiting as the person types out in segments anyway. When I encounter someone who types in phrases, it's like flipping the page in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. It's disruptive for me.

I also think it gets too busy-looking to have a bunch of sentences in a row. So I don't mind waiting the extra few seconds for someone to type out two or three sentences. At least, my train of thought isn't being interrupted as I read it.

I type this way too. A frustrated novelist at heart, I guess.

It depends on your typing speed. If you can type 60 words a minute, go ahead and write out two-line chat lines.

I also don't mind breaking up if there is a natural pause. Sometimes I'll start out "So I was thinking..." then let people see that and roll their eyes as I type more of my rambling hairbrained idea. Or if I'm addressing someone I might type the person's name first and hit enter, then type my message.

But it isn't all that hard to learn how to touch type. I hated it in high school as well, but picked it up in college on my own. Just get your fingers on the home keys (ASDF, JKL; ), and go ahead and look at the keyboard. Eventually you won't have to because your fingers will "learn" the positions.

I touch type with a speed of up to 87wpm last time I took an interview.

I don't actually type much these days in my job (yes, yes, I know I do on here), so I am slowing down!

Gotta hate it when your drunk and those home keys move tho eh?

anyone who can type-sing in my opinion is fast!

Im pretty slow though...and my fingys get really tired typing...I prefere Skype or yahoo.. easier for all concerned..

Before my disability hit, I was at 110-115 WPM/accuracy now about 75-90 maybe a bit less.

I also took every Typing class my High School had to offer. Was told my speed was so great I did not need College level typing and the Professor tested me out of the class (wow that was a long time ago)

I like short phrases in chat, especially when there are a lot of people talking. When chatting to email though, longer sentences are best because they get a seperate item every time I press RETURN.

We were taught to type in seventh grade at military school so we could properly fill out the reports when we had Officer of the Day duty. I sometimes chat with <name edited because she isn't here to defend himself> just to see which of us can type the fastest but I swear she starts pasting text every time I get ahead.

Ahhhhhh, don't make them break it up. Use the time it takes them to type to go potty, make coffee, get a Coke.

It's been a while since I've taken a typing test, but I type at a speed somewhere around 80-90 WPM without bothering with the home row. It helps to just have the keyboard memorized, and to move your fingers the way you want. I found touch typing to be too restrictive, so I never bothered to change my style. During typing class, I would fake it whenever the instructor drew near but otherwise I would do my own funky keyboard foxtrot the rest of the time.

Some of us are very fast typists. The hold up occurs when we realize the utter lunacy of what we just typed and have to edit on the fly. You can't just leave 'em hanging. The pressure is on. People have been waiting for this golden nugget --- "lol"--- and it only took about 45 seconds to produce. If you only knew the horror spinning through that poor Avies brain prior to total meltdown and LOL-Tourettes Syndrome took over.

I prefer they type it all at once. I'll wait a couple minutes for a coherent phrase. The short sentances always make me read it as William Shatner.

My God....
It's torture....
Trying to read....
Like this....

Attention span....
Dying...

One thing I find difficult is trying to have in-depth conversations with people via IM who are slow typers. Unlike most other IM clients, the SL IM interface doesn't tell you when the other person is "typing." And if the other person is a slow typer, the conversation tends to get "out of phase" as I start sending messages while the person is (unbeknownst to me) in the middle of typing a reply.

Sometimes I'll use the "..." in IM to indicate to the other person that I'm writing another sentence. Like:
"That's an interesting question. The answer is a bit complicated, but let me explain..."

That's why I vastly prefer "talking" to people face-to-face in SL. I can see their hands moving when they're typing something, and I know to wait a bit until they're finished before I say something.

I don't know how fast I type, but I'm a touch-typer and pretty quick generally. The only time I use a pen and paper is when I'm writing checks to pay bills.

I consider my typing to be pretty fast at about 100 wpm.. but I have never had such a workout at keeping up with a conversation as I have talking with Catherine Omega. I swear she types 200 wpm.

It's quite an experience engaging in typed conversation with Catherine to say the least.


It would be nice if there was a "replying" notice in an IM when having a conversation.. kinda like the yahoo IM works.. At least with face to face conversations you know someone is working on a reply regardless of how slow they type.

That's another good point though. When I'm IM'ing, I consider it to be like IM'ing in RL. If I don't respond right away, it's because I'm multi-tasking and I'll get back to it. And if someone doesn't respond right way, they'll get back to me. Most of the time I will click the x in the IM panel to make it go away and then I get the button and the sound when someone replies. Some people think they are like phone calls and if you don't answer right away, they get testy. I really hate that in RL.


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I guess I'm a lil different... I don't like having conversations

So if you don't get a reply from me in a while while in IM's, its not because I'm slow... it means my short attention span has taken over and I've wandered away.

Sometimes I like to leave the keyboard to have a smoke halfway though a sentence.. I do this because I know it annoys people

I also like to finish that sentence a half hour later, when I know you've forgotten what I was talking about.

Love it, hate it, its just me bein me and I have less control over it that the sunrise.

I just took a speed test, and I'm actually closer to 100.

I am having a hard time believing peoples quoted typing skills and speeds here.

Is this like the IQ thing where everyone I meet in SL claims to have an IQ over 200 when in reality only about 10 in every two thousand humans are over 135 or so?



.

XD Yeah, I know what you mean...

I just took an online test, and it said that I have a 93 wpm typing speed I agree with what april said though, it's frustrating waiting for a long response, but at least with typing, everyone gets better.

Why the disbelief? Unlike IQ, typing speed and accuracy is a skill which is intrinsically linked to technological aptitude. Those people who use computers regularly are more likely than not to develop typing skills which are better than normal. Since Second Life is, in many regards, caters to highly developed technical users, it is not surprising that you would see a higher incidence of proficient/skilled typists here.

If you attended some sort of Mensa bash, you'd not act surprised when "everyone" you met had an above-average IQ, would you?

Eh. I type 96 wpm as of like 3 or 4 months ago. If you don't think I'm telling the truth, I'd be more than happy to get on skype or yahoo and type so you can hear it.

I type quickly, but lately I cant stop saying "teh." sigh.

You know what I thnik?

i think thisthread