Punctuation - give them time.

[SteveWuzHere]

Give them time to grow.
That's what I say. Unfortunately, while I'm online, I often see "Punctuation, %n, please." on chat. First off - do they need this embarrassment? A simple /tell works. Or, teach them the fundamentals of roleplaying and help the community. Elitism and RP copping will only spook the newcomers to the server, and the jackassery is reducing the server numbers.
Just my two copper.

[Kretol]

This just seems like an example of someone who needs to utilize tact more. Indeed, a simple /whisper will cause the person to be a lot more responding and open to the suggestion or comment than a direct public spotlight, so to speak. Rather disrespectful, in my opinion.

[Kasabian]

Heh, yeah I know that first hand. Sometimes my keyboard loses power in a spike so I can miss a few letters or punctuation marks at some point then post before I realise. Then a second later I get my face-melted by correction, though it can be disrespectful to do that publicly, I do appreciate it quite a lot. Especially when I misspell words I had always thought I've been spelling right!

What's worse is when I get confronted about my English spelling. Not here per-se, but generally, some people just don't believe me when I say English people spell some words slightly differently. :P

[Nintarie]

Being told how to spell something right is always appreciated. I guess the problem is more that sometimes that an error has been made someone just leaps at the opportunity to correct that someone in public. Thus embarrassing the poor sod that might of just typod. And why do people do this? Most of the time to prove that they, themselfs, is very smart and is high and mighty enough to tell people off, thinking that ridiculing others will make them appear more awesome and appealing. In other words it's just the common "I don't wanna be the outcast" bully syndrome.

What should be remembered is that even if this person does correct someone over a public chat anyone that goes to tell this person off for being mean should not stupe to their level. If you're gonna tell someone off whisper them instead, you'll find that they're easier to deal with that way. Besides, it's easier to tell someone in whisper that they shouldn't make people feel like idiots by saying those kind of things in public. Why? Because if you're trying to lecture someone about embarrassing people in front of others in a global chat then you just made a hypocrit out of yourself.

So I agree, taking it privatly is good because it doesn't scare newbies off, but how to deal with the person who might of embarrassed the newbie is just as important to remember. In the end the person who embarrassed the newb might just be scared of being disliked, and it's just human to be scared and make mistakes.