I see in many reviews and forum topics that some visitors write only in lowercase letters - something like this: "hello guys i'm a great genesis fan looking for something new prog music like tmv ftm etc".

Am I the only one who doesn't like such writing style?

No, you're not the only one.

I believe, that due in part to the internet (chat rooms, email, etc.), standard writing ability is declining overall.

(Some of the very worst writing I see on this forum comes from English-speaking countries, BTW. Here at the college where I teach, I routinely encounter highschool graduates who, despite their diplomas, cannot seem to write a single coherent sentence. Generally, people who don't read recreationally are poor writers.)

People often seem to think that such things as spelling, capitalization, paragraphing and punctuation "don't matter," but very poor, sloppy writing can make the writer look unintelligent, and it will stop me, for example, from reading such a review through, or from taking a post/poster seriously.

A recent new thread that attacked Genesis as "overrated" was a classic example of this. The numerous spelling and punctuation errors immediately led me to conclude that the poster was immature and woefully inarticulate at best, and an irritating little troll at worst. In short, his writing style (if not his actual words) quickly convinced me that he was someone to ignore.

Communication skills (written and spoken) are VERY important, and are becoming more so, in our modern knowledge-based economy. Effective communicators get ahead, and communication is key to the well-being of ANY relationship -- work, personal, etc.

timothy leary wrote: that is a redundant word and usually uncalled for in a sentence. not trying to piss you off and in my case i am not good at typing so i tend to be lazy.

You are correct.

(I tend to over-use the word.)

Still, to make your meaning clear, you should have put "that" in quotation marks.

BTW, I type with two fingers.

goose wrote: Peter wrote: No, you're not the only one. I believe, that due in part to the internet (chat rooms, email, etc.), standard writing ability is declining overall. (Some of the very worst writing I see on this forum comes from English-speaking countries, BTW. Here at the college where I teach, I routinely encounter highschool graduates who, despite their diplomas, cannot seem to write a single coherent sentence. Generally, people who don't read recreationally are poor writers.) People often seem to think that such things as spelling, capitalization, paragraphing and punctuation "don't matter," but very poor, sloppy writing can make the writer look unintelligent, and it will stop me, for example, from reading such a review through, or from taking a post/poster seriously. A recent new thread that attacked Genesis as "overrated" was a classic example of this. The numerous spelling and punctuation errors immediately led me to conclude that the poster was immature and woefully inarticulate at best, and an irritating little troll at worst. In short, his writing style (if not his actual words) quickly convinced me that he was someone to ignore. Communication skills (written and spoken) are VERY important, and are becoming more so, in our modern knowledge-based economy. Effective communicators get ahead, and communication is key to the well-being of ANY relationship -- work, personal, etc. It is curious how detrimental writing using computers is to grammar and spelling, given how vitally important each is to writing code. I can very much empathise with difficulty in taking people seriously; it's generally an excellent way of telling spam apart from email from real companies (although the gap is shrinking all the time )

It's not so much the computer per se (a word processor is an excellent writing tool, and better in many ways than a typewriter), but the internet shorthand/"webspeak" that comes in via chatrooms, email, etc. (Using "U" for you, "alot" for a lot, etc.)

Yes goose -- poor writing/spelling is often (but not always) an indication of spam or a scam.

Still, I routinely see mistakes in the advertising of even big companies. This seems to be more and more common in recent years.

For non-English speakers/readers (as a native language) the situation is even more complicated, we have to learn a third language, the "computese".

Many of us, 'foreigners', have learned English at schools in a very traditional way and it is interesting to notice that some of the most elaborated (not necessarily the most correct) texts here come from people whose English isn't their first language.

I trhink it is not only a question of writing skills or education not well integrated, but also the voluntary will to say "who cares?" or WTF! And of course sheer lazyness

I type with one finger, the one on my left hand being used just for upper case or control buttons

Ans when that feft hand is busy (supporting my head or scratching the privates), then,the hell with the upper cases. I am also guilty of not always re-reading some of my posts and sometimes even not correcting some errors if I spotted them after clicking the post reply button

More than the upper cases missing is the downright poor spelling of some native English speakers that astound me. I am far from perfect, I started English at the age of 13, but started writing it only fluently at the age of 16.

I am actually fairly pissed off of some of the write styles because English is a very easy language to get a good grip upon. It is the main reason why it is a dominent language. Compared to English , French (my mother tongue) is so much harder with rules, exceptions to the rules and exceptions to the exceptions that confirms the original rule (not always either). If I write English fairly correctly (few spelling mistakes) and after a first read over, only the sentence structures can still be a problem, in French, even after three read overs, I still spot mistakes.

hoogivesash*tanywayright?

If you believe computer is destroying the abbility to write in propper English, you can't imagine what it's doing to Spanish:

• Nobody knows where and when to place an accent, some people write in high case to avoid using accents. When I was a kid I had to know by memory all the rules.
• A lot of people has forgotten the letter Ñ (eñe) sounds almost like "NI", but if I'm not wrong it's exclusive of our language, in Portugese it's used as (NH) (Ronaldinho) and in Italian it's written GN (Lasagna).
• People write questions with interrogation symbol only at the end of a phrase, when in Spanish it's also used at the beginning (¿?) The same happens with exclamation marks (¡!).

Kids don't worry abou their ortography, they know that a good thesaurus will replace learning the rules, but Thesaurus is not useful to correct grammar faults.

Last week I corrected some tests from he University and this kids used computer short hand like TKiero instead of Te quiero (I LUV U instead of I love you)

I'm the only teacher that takes points for bad grammar because I believe  a good lawyer has to write correctly.

Iván

It's not really my fault. I am usually pretty good at spelling, but I can't type to save my life. When being taught in elementery school, my wrists would ache so much when held in the confined position that they are when typing normally, so I just never developed it. I now look at the keyboard almost exclusively and do the "pick and hunt" method. It's inefficient, I know, but I can type only about 10 words a minute using the normal style. And I never really want to go over my sentences to see if they're perfect, because I don't really care too much, except in reviews.

Just so you know the next time you give me hell, Peter.

Leaving out the full stop/period/"." after the last sentence simply looks like there is something missing. You never know whether someone just forgot it or if there really is some content missing

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Leaving out the full stop/period/"." after the last sentence simply looks like there is something missing. You never know whether someone just forgot it or if there really is some content missing

Absolutely, you took the words right out of

Peter wrote: Communication skills (written and spoken) are VERY important, and are becoming more so, in our modern knowledge-based economy. Effective communicators get ahead, and communication is key to the well-being of ANY relationship -- work, personal, etc.

Nicely put Peter. Mind you, speaking correct English like a geek probably won't get you very far in some relationships either.

 =>

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Leaving out the full stop/period/"." after the last sentence simply looks like there is something missing. You never know whether someone just forgot it or if there really is some content missing

Cool Mike!

I had never thought of dragging the emoticons to a smaller size but it works

Sean Trane wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: Leaving out the full stop/period/"." after the last sentence simply looks like there is something missing. You never know whether someone just forgot it or if there really is some content missing     Cool Mike! I had never thought of dragging the emoticons to a smaller size but it works

How long you been here Sean????

its a pain to read stufrr like thids lol

Snow Dog wrote: Sean Trane wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: Leaving out the full stop/period/"." after the last sentence simply looks like there is something missing. You never know whether someone just forgot it or if there really is some content missing     Cool Mike! I had never thought of dragging the emoticons to a smaller size but it works How long you been here Sean????

Chronologically speaking fairly longer than you have been, but do not be fooled by the date on the side

In absolute time spent on the forum, I am afraid I do not come close too you

BaldJean wrote: I only capitalize names and the words "I" and "God".

That's rather revealing...

bluetailfly wrote: BaldJean wrote: I only capitalize names and the words "I" and "God".  That's rather revealing...

Being completely atheist

I put a capital to I and certainly not to god

Anymore revealling

Bob Greece wrote: Peter wrote: Communication skills (written and spoken) are VERY important, and are becoming more so, in our modern knowledge-based economy. Effective communicators get ahead, and communication is key to the well-being of ANY relationship -- work, personal, etc. Nicely put Peter. Mind you, speaking correct English like a geek probably won't get you very far in some relationships either.  =>

Thanks, Bob.

We say "standard" English, not "correct" or "proper" these days, because the latter two words imply that there is something "wrong" with regional dialects. Two Jamaicans speaking together in their  island's unique dialect ("irie," "mon," etc.) understand each other perfectly, and as the purpose of language is to facilitate communication and understanding, their dialect, though not "standard," is still "correct."

I object to the concept that speaking well will make one appear to be a "geek." I would not care to be involved with someone who would judge me in that manner, anyway. Being educated and/or good with words does not make you a geek -- I would think such matters are determined by behaviour, not vocabulary.

Still, we speak/write differently in different settings (formal/informal, etc.), and according to our particular "audience." (I can curse, swear and use slang with the best of them, and speak effectively and appropriately to a child, teen, peer, bricklayer, 80 year-old nun, police officer, college president, etc.)

My point above was merely that effective, timely communication (not necessarily via "standard" English) is very important in any relationship -- whether between individuals, groups, governments or whatever. Diplomats, not soldiers. Real communication and/or counselling, not (necessarily) divorce....

Sean Trane wrote: Snow Dog wrote: Sean Trane wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: Leaving out the full stop/period/"." after the last sentence simply looks like there is something missing. You never know whether someone just forgot it or if there really is some content missing     Cool Mike! I had never thought of dragging the emoticons to a smaller size but it works How long you been here Sean???? Chronologically speaking fairly longer than you have been, but do not be fooled by the date on the side In absolute time spent on the forum, I am afraid I do not come close too you

You could well be right!

.......I don't use this one often.

WARNING: Dream Theater related: ()

Things that pisses me most of is when people write "Dream Theatre" instead of "Dream Theater", and "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance" instead of "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence".

Sooooooo f----ng annoying!!