Would it kill people to capitalize their sentences properly?

[chops]

This is something I've seen on CS, LJ, and elsewhere. Sorry if I offend anyone, but that's why I'm posting it here and not on CS itself.

I won't name names, obviously, but some users that I've seen around just can't be bothered to capitalize their sentences.

you know, kinda like this short paragraph. i really can't stand it.

There are the ones that only capitalize when emphasis is required, and there are the ones who could live without the Shift keys on their keyboard altogether. Is it laziness? Is it artistic expression (see lang, k.d., and cummings, e.e.)? Is it something else?

In any event, I gloss over most of those posts, wherever they may be, because frankly, I find that the lack of proper capitalization makes a post unreadable because I'm too peeved to focus on it.

All I have to say is thank $DEITY for the Ignore List on most forums, and the ability to filter out offenders on my LJ friends page.

[Seshat]

i think a cockroach named archy must be typing for them

cockroaches cant reach the shift key and the letter key at the same time

neither can cats

archy

[and mehitabel]

[linguist]

i tend not to capitalize in nonformal, nonacademic situations due primarily to the way i type. i have nerve damage in one hand that makes it difficult to type with that hand for extended periods, so i tend to do most of my typing single-handed. doing so means that to use capitals, i often have to stop what i'm doing and perform an entirely separate action to press the shift key, which breaks the flow of typing--not to mention my flow of concentration--and slows me way down.

[chops]

And you know, as soon as I posted that, I thought of people who don't capitalize for whatever medical reason. My rant, of course, assumes I don't know the reason behind typing in all lowercase, and as with most people who are frustrated with something, chalks it up to things that are not beyond that person's control.

Most people don't ask why, and unless people come out and say, "sorry i type this way, here's why" it's too easy to lump them into the same boat as the people who don't feel like doing it because that's the way they are. Another forum I went to has a user named "toetyper." Let's just say there's a reason he chose that name. Naturally, a handful of people on that forum, who are a contentious bunch as it is, got on his case and were made to feel like asses when the truth came out.

Now, if I know that there's a good reason that someone types like that, I'm more willing to cut some slack. That doesn't make it any easier to read, but at least it's forgiveable. Then there are the ones who just don't want to. That's what really grinds my gears.

[AFPheonix]

Eh. In the grand scheme of things, capitalization on an informal post is not as big of a deal as overall readability. As long as someone can mostly spell correctly, uses punctuation mostly correctly, has correct subject/verb agreement, then I'm a happy camper.

Also, breaking up walls of text so my eyes don't glaze over is helpful, too.

[Sylvia727]

My brain has trouble processing entries with improper formatting. I've trained it to read sentences, as defined by punctuation and capitalization, and paragraphs, as defined by the spacing on the page. Solid blocks of text, with little to break up the letters, are much harder to read and understand. I make a good faith effort, but I'm not going to give myself a migraine over it.

[Boozy]

I used to be guilty of the "wall of text" thing. When I post, I'm not "writing" the way I would an essay or article, I'm just typing out the way I speak. And I speak in long, run-on sentences. One mega-paragraph.

After a few comments from other posters about how annoying this is, I now break stuff into sections. But they aren't proper paragraphs or sentences, just smaller sections as a courtesy to the reader's eyes.

A lot of formal writing rules are thrown away on forums. Readability is the big thing, and I don't find lack of proper capitalization makes a post unreadable. But I can appreciate that someone else may feel differently. It can be a bit jarring.

[myswtghst]

This is something that bothers me as well, and I can't help it. I do try to make a good faith effort to read it, and am completely understanding if there's a medical or other rational reason for it, thought it bothers me when it's just plain laziness.

My grammar and spelling are not perfect, but I try darn hard to make them good. I go nuts when my friends email me with no capital letters, terrible spelling, and minimal punctuation. If someone tries to "hit on" me via an internet source (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc), I will completely disregard it if there is no sense of grammar at all. It hurts my brain to read it, and if it's mostly a laziness issue, i don't want in on that mess.

Again - I totally understand when someone is dyslexic, or has a physical disability that makes it easier not to/impossible to always use proper capitalization, punctuation, etc. I will not begrudge you that. If it's sheer laziness, however, I will get annoyed.

[JuniorMintz]

Again - I totally understand when someone is dyslexic, or has a physical disability that makes it easier not to/impossible to always use proper capitalization, punctuation, etc. I will not begrudge you that. If it's sheer laziness, however, I will get annoyed.

What kills me is that I AM dyslexic, and I go to a great deal of effort to make sure that my posts are at least somewhat readable. Spell check is an awesome feature, one that is ignored by way too many people. Even *with* spell check, typos happen. That said, when I find posts that are basically unreadable nonsense, I can't help but think that the person who posted it is a lazy, lazy bugger. In some cases I'd go so far as to call it rudeness.

I'll admit that this is has always been a pretty sore subject for me. I know I have to work harder when it comes to reading and writing, because I don't want to look like a lazy idiot in public. I'm afraid of looking like a lazy idiot because when I see a ridiculous post from someone, the first thing that pops into my head is pretty much "GOD, I'm not even going to try to make sense of that, the person who wrote that is lazy and/or an idiot".

That's just me though. As for those with a physical disability, I can't speak about that since I've never had one- well, one that would affect my written communication at any rate. However, the explanation given by linguist makes total sense to me. I would never have guessed that s/he had any impairment in the first place since the post was totally readable, just lacking in capital letters.

P.S. Sorry chops but I do have to tease you just a *little* bit since you mentioned k.d. lang and e.e. cummings... why don't you capitalize Chops?

(All in good fun, I hope you know!)

[Seshat]

I mentioned my philosophy on this sort of thing in a different thread. I'll summarise.

Communication involves effort on both the speaker/writer, and the listener/reader. In communication where one side is a professional, such as a book or a psychiatric session, the professional does more of the effort. A book author (a good one, anyway) re-writes and edits his work until he feels he's achieved unambiguous, concise and clear statements of his points. A psychiatrist listens to her patient talk freely and often encourages the patient to abandon even her internal 'editor' that almost all of us use.

In casual or informal communication, when neither is the professional, we expect approximately equal work on both sides. In forums such as this one, we forgive occasional typos, ambiguous sentences, lapses of grammar. As long as the post isn't a struggle to read, we're okay.

If we happen to know the writer's native tongue is not English (or the default language of the forum), or that the writer has a handicap, we'll forgive even more. Why? Because the writer is struggling against language difficulties or against their handicap; therefore the writer is making more of an effort than usual.

However, if the writer is just lazy, we resent it. They're expecting us to do most of the work. Instead, most of us just skip their posts.

[powerboy]

With me, If it is a wall of text. Then I will not read it. If someone didn't capitalize a sentence, it really doesn't matter. When I type on a forum, I am most likely to not see that I didn't capitalize something.

[Ree]

i have nerve damage in one hand that makes it difficult to type with that hand for extended periods, so i tend to do most of my typing single-handed. doing so means that to use capitals, i often have to stop what i'm doing and perform an entirely separate action to press the shift key, which breaks the flow of typing--not to mention my flow of concentration--and slows me way down.

But, surely, clicking the mouse on a spell check or running it through a word program and copying and pasting would find at least some of those pesky missing capitals, right?

Not criticizing...just a thought.

[LadyBarbossa]

This can also go to the complete other end of the spectrum. There are some people who, for some reason unknown to me, Feel The Need To Capitalize Every Word They Type Even When It's Not A Title. I think this is even more aggravating than all lowercase.

[chops]

P.S. Sorry chops but I do have to tease you just a *little* bit since you mentioned k.d. lang and e.e. cummings... why don't you capitalize Chops?

*boggles*

You know...I honestly don't remember.

[JuniorMintz]

LOL!

I didn't mean to break your brain. I often don't capitalize JuniorMintz, myself... Actually I think this version of the boards is the first time I bothered with caps in my screen name. Heh...