(Untitled)

[lifeofalimabean.dreamwidth.org]

So, it seems like there is a culture of saying whenever someone forgets to capitalize in a rant, or use punctuation properly, they are automatically stupid. I mean, this happens in a lot of areas on the internet, I'm only singling out FFR because people here usually don't like vast, sweeping generalizations like that. Here's why it bothers me

Comments

[emmalinell]

Sometimes it's a case of, "I don't agree with you... but instead of just disagreeing, I'll attack your writing in and of itself." Which, imo, is a cheap-shot, and suggests the non-OP is actually stupid. They can't go against the words, so they go against the grammar.

Other times they're just annoyed and want the internet to type to their standards, and if they don't then 'clearly they're stupid/ wrong/ whatever."

Or maybe they have OCD about it. In which case they must suffer a lot from being on the internet, since lack of capitals abounds.

I will say this much: misspelling a good chunk of one's words is pretty bad when there's spellcheck.

[ext_265391]

for what it's worth, I agree about the spelling thing.

[brookiki]

My pet peeve is when someone misspells a word and then puts (sp) beside it. Okay, so you realize the word is spelling incorrectly and you care enough to add four extra characters acknowledging that, but not enough to fix it? I just....why?

[rhiannon_s]

The (sp?) is a relict of the old usenet days, IIRC. Not everyone had inbuilt spell checks (or a dictionary to hand), and search engines were either awaiting invention along with the rest of the web, or once that came along a bit random. So you had a word you weren't sure how to spell, often a technical term or a proper name with an obscure spelling, so you flagged up that you realised there was a possibility that you might be making a hash of it and asking people to forgive or correct you. Obviously those reasons are totally irrelevant these days, but it survives because some of us are just so used to doing it from ye olde dayes[tm] (force of habit, it is a powerful thing to try to break) or people who just think it looks cute without knowing the history. IYSWIM&ICBW;HTH.

[mizsphinx]

to be honest, lack of proper punctuation or capitalisation do not bother me. sometimes i get too lazy to reach for the shift keys, so i type just like how i'm typing right now. additionally, i misuse commas a lot so sometimes i obsess about whether i'm using enough or using too much. that's why when i see other folks not using capitals or proper punctuation, i don't care. as long as i can understand what they're saying, great. i, too, am not a fan of people attacking others over their grammar/spelling/punctuation because i know some folks intentionally write like that - as well, there are non-native english speakers who may not quite get the handle on english grammar just yet.

don't suffer yourself the wrist pain. if writing a certain way on eljay physically hurts you less, do it.

edited to add a word

[ext_265391]

"As long as i can understand what they're saying, great."

Agreed one-hundred percent. a lot of the arguments against things like typos or missing capitalization make me think of people ignoring what someone says and just mocking their accent.

[aim2misbhave]

My phone doesn't do automatic capitalization when I'm typing in the LJ app, for some reason.

[akashathekitty]

I'm with the people thinking it's a cheap shot.

I don't hold LJ posts and comments to the same standards of, say, fics, and even sometimes completely miss what everyone else is criticising. I just need to be able to catch the meaning and then I'm good. And considering that not only is my own grammar far from perfect, but I'm in a relationship with someone whose spelling and grammar is absolutely shit, but who is actually a rather clever person, I'd never measure intelligence on grammar. That's just stupid, narrow-minded, and... annoying.

[ext_265391]

thank you. i know its silly, but it honestly makes me feel better to hear, because I'm awfully self-conscious about the way i write online these days, especially in fandom circles.

[the__ivorytower]

If someone is presenting me with 'professional' work (something they want to have taken seriously, or at least as seriously as one can, then I want them to use proper spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.

If it's a brief comment or post... meh.

I do find it very, very hard to read posts that are grammatically confusing or poorly spelled, and a misplaced punctuation mark may make me blink. Capitalization pretty much falls to the wayside except for "I", because an i by itself just grates at me.

Taking shortcuts is something I'm long used to, being quite caught up in online gaming culture. Please, use bbiaf. It's better than just about anything else.

[ext_265391]

nothing will ever top TTFN. : D tigger was a boss.

i think what you said about professional work makes perfect sense. and also everybody has the right to say, 'this is bothersome for me to read, so i won't read it' about posts on the internet. the only thing i take issue with is when people take the attitude that they are better and other people are worse because they capitalize their words or something.