[bwoodfield]

I know one of the forum rules is to not be accusatory and keep discussions civil but the net-speak and netslang that people are putting in threads is driving me nuts. This isn't a messenger or texting conversation so PLEASE type real words and add punctuation into your sentences. If English isn't your primary language then fine, it's completely acceptable to have some language issues when you're typing and that comes across when reading it. But if you're over the age of 12 and from small town USA there is absolutely no excuse. In fact my 12 year old types better than some people I've seen on forums.

That, this and there is not spelled 'dat', 'dis', or 'der'.

Sentence end with a period, question mark or an exclamation mark. New sentence start with a capital letter. You don't simply keep typing and expect people to understand what you're trying to say. Learn some proper grammar.

When I'm typing on a web forum I type like I speak. If some one walked up to me and started talking in acronyms and saying speaking the same way I've seen people type I would probably walk away from them.

Ok I'll get down off my soapbox and get back to work.

[dbcint]

I see this all over the Internet, and it really gets on my nerves.

Do these people have certain buttons missing from their keyboard? Are they incapable of typing properly? I doubt it.

So what's the problem? Why type so idiotically?

1) Because they're just that poorly educated.
If this is the case, I weep for education worldwide. Rest assured, this problem is not contained to the USA. For example, in recent years, it became acceptable to use "txt" language in school exams. Why this decision was made is completely baffling to me. It's going to teach kids that if it's ok in exams, it's going to be ok in other important aspects of life. If I was an employer, and came across an application form with that kind of language, there's absolutely no way I'd even consider them for an interview.

2) Because they think it's cool.
Well, "cool" is an opinion. If you're typing like that, you and your friends might think it's cool, but anyone is going to skip right over it and your post - no matter how intelligent it may be - is just going to be skipped over.

3) Because they're speaking their own language
My friend's younger sister is about 16. She's an otherwise intelligent young woman, but I can't understand the majority of the stuff I see on her Facebook page. I can talk to her and have a perfectly normal conversation, but anything she writes or sends in a txt has to be thoroughly decoded.

Why does she write like this? Because it's the way her friends and peers write. She's not really that stupid, she's just fitting in. The problem is, it's been going on so long no-one knows wh's the leader and who's the sheep anymore. It's just the accepted language, so they all use it.

bwoodfield, I applaud you for getting on your soapbox and airing your thoughts.

[Riverside Reptiles]

What's really scary is when I see adults in their 30's and 40's using it. I guess they're trying to be cool like their kids or something, but it certainly doesn't set any sort of positive example. The fact is, people DO judge you by your ability to use proper grammar...especially somewhere like the internet where all you have to judge someone by is those skills. Personally, I would NEVER buy a gecko from someone who typed like that (I wouldn't likely even sell them one). And as mentioned above, I often skip over posts that are written like that because A) they're simply painful to try to decipher and B) I have to question whether the person is even intelligent enough to understand the answer to questions that they ask. I guess the bottom line is that if you post like an imbecile, be prepared to be treated as such.

[Riverside Reptiles]

And I do want to reiterate that here on GU we have a large population of members that don't speak English as a primary language and that is a completely understandable thing and has nothing to do with this topic. We are quite proud of the international community that we have built here.

[dbcint]

Yes, I certainly agree about the language issue. If English is not your primary language, but you are attempting to speak it online because it's what everyone else in the forum is using, then good on you for having a go. Most people who do this will generally apologise first for any poor grammar or punctuation, and say that English is not their first language.

However, what I find scary is sometimes their posts are of far higher quality - grammatically speaking - than those of people who have been speaking English their entire lives.