Forum Etiquette - looking for opinions

[Eminems]

I'm putting this out to the staff here and to everyone else as well. On another forum I post on regularly - nothing to do with PS - there's recently been some issues with new members using chatspeak and atrocious spelling.

I'm not mentioning any names or details, but I was curious. What do you guys think about the use of chatspeak on forums?

I don't mind it where there is limited space e.g. online games, text messages, but when posting on a forum there is no limitation to length of the post, and there is no reason for you not to take the time to type things properly.

Also, spelling. I realise that no-one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes now and then but I get annoyed when people obviously don't check, or use a spell checker, or actually point out that they don't care about spelling on the internet, and get offended when people politely point it out to them.

My question is, what do you guys think about what is acceptable and what is not?

[Neo48]

Doesn't bother me too much. If I can't read it I wont answer to it.

I sometimes miss things because I don't usually go over my posts. But that is mostly because i know that what I am typing, anyone witha good sense of english should be able to understand my point.

[BenoitRen]

Chatspeak and atrocious spelling don't have a place on message boards, IMO. And since when was IM limited on text? You can take the time to spell correctly there too.

On online games it's different, but I would still encourage proper English for the sake of clarity.

[Eminems]

MSN does have a limit, but it's huge.... I meant text messages on cellphones, although I tend to properly punctuate those as well.

Thank you though, I'm glad to know that we're not alone on this.

[Mizerith]

I don't mind if people misspell words or use chatspeak when talking to me. I have a good enough grasp of English to know what they mean most of the time, and whenever I don't I just ask. No big deal.

I'm also not going to flip out if someone corrects my spelling and/or grammar. I encourage that.

[Neo48]

*Thumbs up*

[Sir Nicholas]

wutz wrong wit typin lik dis? u cn stil read it u kno.

But I don't wanna dig out my English-to-text translator. Type "you" instead of "u". It takes a whole extra second, and that's if you don't type as fast as I do :S

[IndispensablePeaGuy]

Not really, but when somebody calls me out for being stupid, they better have the decency to not fill their posts with numerous spelling and grammar mistakes.

[Mister Death]

i don't use punctuation properly or capitalise my sentences, and my grammar sucks, but i try and spell words correctly. netspeak i don't mind in moderation, but not entire posts.

[Starman.EXE]

I hope I don't count. I'm new; however I don't use chatspeak. I havn't seen anyone use chatspeak here as is. As long I can read what a person is saying.

[Eminems]

That is the important thing. I think the most annoying part was when the girl pointed out that she didn't care about it. On that forum, most of the members are writers as well, but it was the fact that she resorted to name calling and capslock yelling when people were perfectly nice and polite about it.

[Starman.EXE]

That is the important thing. I think the most annoying part was when the girl pointed out that she didn't care about it. On that forum, most of the members are writers as well, but it was the fact that she resorted to name calling and capslock yelling when people were perfectly nice and polite about it.

I hate the "grammar don't matter!" online. It's overused and lame now.

What if you are filling out something for a job? You can't use chat speak in it.

What grates me is when people can't tell the general differnce between "there", "their" and "they're". As well for "You're" and "your". A certain forum that I will not name has people spelling "including" as "encluding".

As well for someone that hounded me spelled her words such as "making" as "makeing".

Raping your keyboard with the caps lock on annoys me also.

However, if English wasn't a person's first, then I'd let it pass.

[Eminems]

Would you believe me if I told you that people are filling out university applications in chatspeak? It was in the news recently, that kids were filling out their UCAS forms (for applying to University/College) in chatspeak, forcing teachers to go through and correct it all.

That scares me. I have noticed that many people, whose first language isn't English, make more of an effort, or at least as much of an effort, to get things right. I'm not suggesting that I would nitpick and have a go at anyone who makes a mistake. Everyone makes typos, it happens. It's the consistent chatspeak, bad spelling and capslock shouting, coupled with the "I don't care about grammer and spelling coz we get enuf of that at skool" line that bugs me. I mean, they teach you that stuff in school for a reason. (Fortunately the matter with that on the other forum has been resolved without too much problem.)

Unfortunately fanfiction.net is going the same way. Particularly the Cats and the Musical/Plays sections. (I avoid HP like the plague, despite enjoying the books. I'm scared of what I'd find there.)

[LegoMuskCat]

u kno its ok if ppl r lazy cuz dey haf dat rite to b ya kno?? c.. if evry1 had 2 type out dis stuf itd giv me a hard tiem 2!!1 i... .. i rele feel bad 4 dem,.. cuz liek amerikans r naturly just lzy wich is y were so dam fat lol

Okay, that atrocity aside. It really makes the said individual look really stupid/lazy. A lot of people who I've met who type like that aren't that intelligent to begin with, sadly. So when they do try to type out long, complex words, it's just a big mess.

Also... I do agree that people who's native tongue isn't English tend to care a lot more about their spelling, wording, etc. and it's a shame that the English population is lacking when it comes to grammar and punctuation. Sure, people make mistakes, but to purposely take short-cuts and then try to say that it's some special kind of chatspeak is pretty sad.

Matter of fact, I usually don't call it chatspeak -- I call it laziness!

[Etra McGarl]

Everything I need to say is right here.