Gloria, spelling mistakes only bother me when the person is trying to sound like a big authority. It's irritating to hear someone arrogantly dispensing information about a plant when he or she can't even spell the name of the plant. Misspelled words never bother me otherwise.
The tip on proofreading backwards is really interesting, Sue. I've let typos go through only because I knew what a word was supposed to be and saw it that way as I skimmed by.
