Has Netiquette Gone Out the Window?

FROM: Paul
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 7:18:32AM

Thank you, Ryan! Amen. I'm very very much a stickler for good grammar and spelling, even online.

"But", people will argue, "it's not real life! It's online! Get over it!" Guess what? I won't. Not when your spelling, grammar, and lack of capitalization gets in the way of what you're trying to say.

My all time favorite mistake is substituting "loose" for "lose". I have yet to figure out how someone can "loose" weight.

FROM: Robert
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 8:44:33AM

It took me many months of using on-line chat programs to finally reach that point where I was comfortable not capitalizing all the time. It still seems sloppy to me, but it does save time and keystrokes...and I am a lazy man. However, as far as email is concerned, I think it is utterly important to make a clear and nice-looking presentation. Otherwise, you're just creating a bigger problem than you're solving.

FROM: Tina
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 8:51:47AM

I, too, am appalled by the horrible grammar and complete disregard for all that is sacred to the written word that is the hallmark of online communications. Some people seem to lead double lives - their print and speech are grammatically correct (and I know for a fact that they are pretty well-read, too! - not that that makes a difference, anyway), but their emails are chock-full of errors. When did online writing become "a different breed" of communication and not subject to common rules of speech?!? Sad!

FROM: Old Fezziwig
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 9:43:09AM

Ryan asked: And would you ever walk up to someone you didn't know and just blurt out "Hey! Horny?" while grabbing your crotch?

Fezz says: What's wrong with that? I do exactly that about twice a week and it works surprisingly well!
Your missing out on some fun if you don't try it.
You have nothing to loose.

Ha!
-Fezz
www.oldfezziwig.com

FROM: Robert
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 10:09:10AM

Old pumper--

I have to agree with Mr. Old Fezziwig. People should be more open and honest, and make their feelings and desires clear without exception. Starting right now I'm going to walk around with my pants around my ankles. I won't be all the fast but you'll know what I'm up to. And I shan't be ashamed!

FROM: Cat
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 10:34:05AM

d00d ur so lame.

Ahem.

Sorry, somebody had to do it.

FROM: Robert
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 11:02:03AM

sorE no 1 had 2 do it

FROM: Tony
DATE: Tuesday December 19, 2000 -- 12:08:11PM

Being in high school, I can tell you that is how "some" people talk to each other (about 60% of the people). I dont know weither, use of it over the net caused the real world use, or the other way around. Somehow, I think the world would be better if to buy a computer you needed to a pass an intelligence test. (And score enough not to make an ass of yourself.)

FROM: Matt
DATE: Friday December 22, 2000 -- 1:03:45AM

You know what really pisses me off! Hip-Hop artists that misspell every word in the world

FROM: frank0
DATE: Friday December 22, 2000 -- 9:05:59AM

I disagree with a lot of the points here. Different forums involve different levels of formalism. IM is a quickie, I don't want to spend a whole lot of time typing or I'm better off making a phone call. Email, again, needs to be terse and right to the point, or the recipient will just ignore or won't have time to respond.

While I like to think that I have decent grammatical skills, I also recognize there's a time and place for it. I certainly wouldn't like it if the Williams (Safire and Buckley) boys analyzed everything I said in regular conversation. There's a certain informalism accepted (or probably required) for regular conversations, or you end up looking like a high-browed, pompous stiff.

Don't impose an unnecessary quality standard on conveniences like IM or email. How would I sound if I said, "if you come at me with a sentence that ends in a preposition, don't expect me to listen"?

FROM: Paul
DATE: Friday December 22, 2000 -- 10:07:22AM

How would I sound if I said, "if you come at me with a sentence that ends in a preposition, don't expect me to listen"?

That'd sound a lot like me. :D

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Friday December 22, 2000 -- 12:05:07PM

Frank -- But you can't deny that getting an e-mail written in all lower-case with no punctuation and riddled with obvious misspellings is not the way to get the attention of somebody you're writing to for the first time. I know, personally, I ignore 90% of the letters like that that come in -- if I have to spend time deciphering what someone is saying to me, it's not worth it.

And again -- I am not talking about slang, because God knows I use enough of it myself. :)

FROM: frank0
DATE: Friday December 22, 2000 -- 7:42:35PM

Ryan-My NY resolution is to start at least 1 flame war a month on Daily Ping. I believe this topic especially can touch off a major one given its highly sensitive nature.


BTW, my biggest pet peeves are 1) the rife use of acronyms for common euphisms, 2) embedding comments in HTML comments so we all know "geek on board" and 3) people using a close brace without ever using an open brace (see message above for example).


LMAO

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Saturday December 23, 2000 -- 12:38:00AM

Frank -- Always the devil's advocate. :)