CAPITALIZING words when writing on the net

[Khephra]

I find that I have a bad habit and that's CAPITALIZING words that I stress when I normally speak. Does this annoy people? Should I just use boldface or italics? Am I normal?

Is ANYONE listening?

;-)

[Don_G]

1. Not Me

I do the SAME thing.

[arcane1]

2. not me

I do the SAME DAMNED THING


sometimes bolding the caps helps, too, when you REALLY mean it!

[everythingsxen]

3. I...

am listening..INTENTLY. I don't care if you CAPITALIZE words. It just sounds LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING THOUGH. :P

*I* personally prefer using *asterisks* to mark importants words that I am trying to *stress*; it's just how I was "taught" to post/chat on the 'Net.

I've seen boldfaced, italics, even underlines. Of course to really make a point you could try bold, italic and underlined. :evilgrin:

[Khephra]

6. I'm starting to feel that I'm not alone in this habit

Is this just an aspect of the conversational nature of the net? You don't see this as much in normal writting, but DAMN IT, I have to do it...and I seem to do it a lot.

Maybe it is because we're on a political board and many people seem to ignore what we say unless we stress the high points?

[everythingsxen]

8. it's possible

but consider the alternative. some people never capitalize at all. even where it would be appropriate.

I SUPPOSE IT IS AS BAD AS SOMEONE WHO DOES ALL CAPS. THIS CAN BE ANNOYING, BUT IT IS AFTERALL JUST A QUESTION OF TASTE I GUESS.

one i hate though is when someone uses no punctuation marks of any kind whatsoever i swear i cant stand it its going to drive me to the madhouse one day i couldnt count the number of posts you see like this everyday on the net

:evilgrin:

[Khephra]

11. Good points

I hate it when people don't even attempt to make paragraphs or punctuation. There's actually a lot of ways to punctuate English. As far as I'm concerned, there's really no ONE WAY. It depends on whether or not one writes as they speak--which is a bit different than normal grammar. (spelling I forgive. I type in the dark a lot a miss a lot of mistakes...I assume others have similar issues)

But the runonalloneparagrapwithnopunctuationIhate!

[Wetzelbill]

4. HUH?

[Blue-Jay]

5. I alternate

using caps, italics, and bold for emphasis. No rhyme or reason.

[Bronco69]

7. I do it ALL the time!

[THUNDER HANDS]

9. there is something worse

PeOpLe WhO CaPitOlIzE eVeRy OtHeR lEtTeR

[supernova]

10. Used to belong to AOL

when there were all of 10 people in the DC area on it. ALL CAPS then (late 80s) meant shouting. Still does to me. I guess it came from the Usenet groups. If I want to emphasize something, I'll use italics or bold.

[salmonhorse]

12. IT DOESN'T ANNOY ME ONE SINGLE DAMN BIT...

DAMN IT!!

It's just so inappropriate at times...

[SOteric]

13. I guess I've spent too many years reading and posting to usenet.

It doesn't 'bother me' per se, but I do interpret it rather automatically in my mind as shouting. I prefer to emphasise my text in html with bold or italics, and in text only media with asterisks, i.e., Is *anyone* listening?

[terrisel]

14. I think the old rules are out of date

and so I am waiting for the new rules.

Why not capitalize the words you want to emphasize? I would like to stop capitalizing the first letter in most sentences. I can see a purpose in capitalizing the first letter in the first sentence of a paragraph-but the second sentence? The first sentence ends with a punctuation mark and that tells me all I need to know.

[SOteric]

15. Those rules are not out of date for usenet.

There are a great many usenet groups that have long ago abandoned them, and almost all of those groups are painful to slog through in terms of the sheer signal to noise ratio.

The many groups who still adhere to a sense of netiquette are easier and more pleasant to read and offer a much higher quality of discussion.

It's like the difference in reading a 12 page screed from a psychotic, versus a 1 page precis from a professional writer with a keen grasp of the facts.

[Skittles]

16. IT ANNOYS ME IMMENSELY, KEF

I SHOULD KICK YOUR ASS

[newyawker99]

17. I CAN'T hear YOU Kef....

WHAT did YOU say??

[Nlighten1]

18. I do that too.

There isn't anything wrong with it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. I dOn'T lIkE iT wHeN pEoPlE dO tHiS....

It's just silly looking. Otherwise I don't mind capitalization instead of underlining. Whole posts, well that's another tHiNg.

[grannylib]

20. I can't get anything to bold or italicize here so I resort to CAPS too...

[PVnRT]

21. BuT dOiNg ThIs Is EvEn WoRsE

IT'S OK AS LONG AS YOU DON'T CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING AND LEAVE OUT PUNCTUATION IT LOOKS LIKE SHOUTING I HATE THAT

[ProfessorGAC]

22. I Do It, Too!

It seems perfectly normal to me. How would someone know the proper emphasis if we don't do that? Should i type louder?
The Professor

[Cat Atomic]

23. n0 it d03sn4 b04h3r m3 a4 all.

bu4 4h1s s4uff i ann0y1ng.