Punctuation or no?

[realisticphish]

i was just curious how DUers considered the use of real punctuation/syntax while posting. mine tends to be random; the only consistent thing is semi-colons and periods. apostrophes are the devil. and capitalization is only used in certain locations, like BFEE. how do you feel about it?


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[laruemtt]

1. as someone who regularly does

editing as part of my job as a med transcriptionist and helping edit books, it was a huge shift to "lighten up" on line and let a lot of stuff go. it looks like there are different rules for on-line writing and that's cool, as long as the message gets across, i guess...

[realisticphish]

6. im a college student

after a million and one papers, i like being able to use crappy grammer:)

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[On the Road]

2. Speaking as an Insufferable Pedant,

I take punctuation just as seriously when posting on DU as anywhere else. :)

The syntax, however, may be more casual -- more dashes. Incomplete sentences. Single quotes inside the period as practiced by the ' IT community'.

[realisticphish]

8. i find run-on sentences a problem

i look back over a post, and realize that ive used 10 semicolons and 4 ellipses in one sentence :)

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[On the Road]

11. As Far as Run-on Sentences Go...

You're in extremely good company. Look at the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

If you ignore the period after "Happiness" (which should really be a comma) that's all one sentence. Everybody during that century seemed to write sentences that take up half a page.

[realisticphish]

12. thats it!

my genious simply isnt recognized in its time...:)

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[LynzM]

3. I'm pretty uptight about my own posts.

I proofed a college paper for a while, and can't seem to get out of the habit. Spelling and grammar errors in other people's posts bother me and I notice them, but I wouldn't say anything unless I truly couldn't understand what they were trying to say. My biggest change in online writing is that I tend to use ellipses entirely too much.... :)

[realisticphish]

5. i have the EXACT same problem

in a conversation, as in talking, you use pauses a lot, and that transfers to message boards

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[LynzM]

9. Exactly

I seem to have trouble using just commas, hyphens and semi-colons to represent a transition between thoughts, or a thought trailing off... ;)

[realisticphish]

10. lol

as i said in another post, my sentences become behemoths very quickly due to mr. semicolon...


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[fit4life]

4. I'm kind of anal about it.

I try to use proper grammar and punctuation at all times. I even refuse to compromise in text messages with my cell phone. It hasn't been named or diagnosed yet, but I'm pretty sure it's a disorder of some kind. ;)

[realisticphish]

7. im a psych major

ill look into it...;)


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[bloodyjack]

13. NOTHING BETTER GETS YOUR POINT ACROSS

AND WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF URGENCY LIKE EXCESSIVE CAPITALIZATION

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE QUEERS ARE DOING TO OUR SOIL???????????

[realisticphish]

14. LIEBERALS LOL!!!1!!!1

I THOUGHT OF THAT ONE MYSLEF!!!!


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat