WHY IS EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET SO GRUMPY?

Hi,

I get letters from a few who claim a disability of some kind forces them to use the uppercase (visual impairment, motor problems).

My suggestion has been that with the advent of the Web, a popular idea seems to be that typing in all-lowercase letters has become just as valid as using all-uppercase letters. Before the Web (and e-mail, IMs, etc) only all uppercase was considered to be a "correct" alternative to mixed-case writing.

This being the general consensus (and I think it is), methinks a person typing in all lowercase letters will spark fewer complaints (etc) than the all-caps typist.

Since I can type in mixed-case with no problem, I will make the effort to do so whenever I can. Why? Simple: people who do lots and lots of reading tend to have a much easier time with "correctly" written text. Those who do very little reading will not notice much of a slowdown from all-caps writing or from spelling the phrase "why are you" by writing "y r u" instead. But many "power readers" will notice a big difference, because much of what our brains do while reading is on "automatic pilot," if you will.

It's easier to type, but that much harder to read. (Hint, hint!)

Take care!

Cliff

I forgot to mention that faced with the choice, I would prefer all-lowercase to all-caps any day, because lowercase is by far the easier of the two to read.

Take care!

Cliff

We are not all grumpy Leo. I am very happy with your newsletter.
I even bought you a Latte! Unfortunately, some people are only happy when they are complaining.

Just a comment in reference to the above upper-case lower-case debate. I think people who think they're being shouted at should realize this is typing, not talking. It's cyberworld, not the real world, and if this is the worst of your problems, you need a real life.

I fully disagree with what all you said, the Caps LOCK key on the keyboard wasnt put here for the reason you explaned. What is the Caps LOCK for?.
Certainly not the word shouting. To my knowledge it is used to capitalize the first letter of a certain word in a sentence,of name of a city,state etc.To begin a word with a capital letter, WHEN I TYPE LIKE THIS, I DONT HEAR ANYTHING,NO SOUND,NO NOTHING,I DON'T HEAR A VOICE THAT SAYS YOUR SHOUTING, TYPING LIKE THIS HELPS THE PARTLY BLIND,PLUS TOO GRANDMA can read it,,and she has trouble reading this small print.I really get grumpy when some people dont have anything better to do than talk about what is etiquette and what isn't. The Caps LOCK is a useful key, just like the "P" key it looks like a tongue to one side of the mouth or a "D"key full lip or open mouth. I have glaucoma a disease of the eyes, it is very helpfull to me when people use the caps lock, on this site when you talk try and educate people about something that helps everyone, not the ones that think Caps LOCK is just for shouting or "WHY IS EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET SO GRUMPY?".Another thing, don't use EVERYONE because i am one and not everyone, I speak for myself, not for everyone. So there forth im not Grunmpy

Sorry for mispelling GRUMPY in my last sentence

Cliff you quoted:
(I forgot to mention that faced with the choice, I would prefer all-lowercase to all-caps any day, because lowercase is by far the easier of the two to read.)

It may be easiser for you to read all-lowercase, but for the most of us, Caps are better, i said most not all.

Casey

It's not about been GRUMPY by not warming to
ALL-CAPS and it's not all about shouting, but merely expecting consistency with email. Those that receive hundreds of emails daily (as I do)and practice speed reading, are definitely definitely slowed with unusual font styles.

Tony

Hello,
I was surfing and looking for some reference to show a person that is writing in all caps, well he doesn't write in all caps all the time, he does write like most people do some times. Well anyways he does write alot in caps and it bugs me. He does have a whacked out eye but the guy rides bikes with me and doesn't seem to have a problem. Your page is not really a good one to show him cause it perpetuates the problem. Instead of tolerating the all caps writing, why not have the person increase their font size on their computer? There's even a simple program that magnifies where you want to magnify. Just like a magnifying glass. This would be a far better option than tolerating it.

I have read the posted comments, some I agree with, most I think are just trying to prove their point of view as the best, even if it is a minority. I do agree that as one poster said, it is easier for GRANDMA TO READ, but pardon me, Do I look like your Grandma? If you are no longer typing to her, your caps lock will unlock without even having the key, try it sometime. When we speak in verbal conversation, we have many ways of placing empathasis on our words, softer, louder, high pitched, low pitched, spaced wording. If we are to have a conversation on the net by typing, why take the limited amount of expression from us if you dislike the tediousness of releasing your caps lock key and using the shift+letter combo for begining setences. I know we have a very lazy soceity, but why make it that much worse, just to save you some tedious keystrokes, yet spend an hour defending your laziness
(Shouting voice) ENOUGH SAID (regular voice) learn that etiquette is for everybody, and not changed for you just because you are (Shouting Voice) too lazy. See how mch more trouble it is to define your intentions using only one type of letter?
Next time you write to Grandma, try using Caps lock, Bold lock and a font size of 24, I a sure she could probably read that, and hopefully she will reply to you in the same fashion and you will see how irratating it can get.