Correct grammar is seldom adhered to 100% on the net. A lot of people do use some form of shorthand, or colloquialisms. As members who have been around a while on these forums may have noticed I tend to use cus, instead of because etc.

However there are 3 things I personally have a problem with:

1 – People typing in CAPITAL LETTERS. It is generally regarded as shouting on the net and although when used in moderation to emphasise a particular point, it is perfectly OK, there are always those that think it might gain ‘more’ attention. Yes it does – it draws attention to the fact that the poster either A: has no comprehension of how to conduct themselves online; or B: is a complete a$$hole. Neither of which is endearing to other members.

2 – Prolific use of ‘leet’ speak. It’s not big, it’s not clever and it makes the poster look about 13 years old.

3 – People who just inherently have bad grammatical skills and can’t type a short sentence without making mistakes. I’m sorry, but there’s just no excuse other than I can’t be bothered/ I’m too stupid to type properly.

There’s a lot of forums out there where retarded grammar with a mixture of ‘text messaging culture’ is the norm. At APi what you post is what people will perceive.

Exceptions are obviously made for those people whose first language isn’t English. In fact I am always humbled by those who can conduct an online text conversation in their non-native tongue, so to speak.

Unfortunately the largest group of people who consistently leave others squinting at the screen with their abysmal spelling, grammar and general on-line presentation, have English as a first language (although it’s hard to tell sometimes).

All in all there’s a very big difference between making a few silly mistakes in haste / not having English as a primary language; and simply not having the cognitive capacity to type more than 2 words without making a mistake.

We are all told that you shouldn’t judge people at a superficial level, but I have noticed that there is a definite correlation between those members at APi whose contribution can only be typified as spam and grammatical correctness.

Plain and simple – the spammers can’t even type a short sentence without making grammatical errors.


Just my POV, obviously, but if the cap fits………………………..