Apparently, I've been sheltered from typical teens on the Internet

[TS_SonicMaster]

It's just annoying once you see the other side, typing the right way, full words and proper grammar. My cousin, when online, uses that way of typing, and it doesn't seem like she actually would.

[Nyokou]

I had the same problem with one of my friends, but over time she got better at typing. She still makes mistakes though, here and there... whether is be the usage of a certain word, spelling, or grammar. I don't blame her though because she's fairly new to the language. I think she's doing well too.

[phe0nixblade]

Originally Posted by Relambrien

EDIT: Thought of something else. Has anyone ever experienced any situations in which someone acts so much more idiotic online than they do in life? Take for instance my example. The guy says "I can't get videos on my iPod," I ask him what part he's having trouble with, and he says, "the problem is that I can't get videos on my iPod." I mean...what the heck?

Yes, there's this girl I know in real life who is a very smart girl actually, her grades are normally A's or B's. But when she talks to me on myspaceim, I have to read the things over 2 sometimes up to 5 times, and I still don't understand what she is saying.

[boondocks77]

I guess ''txt talk'' has just become something teens have conformed to nowadays, like the new colloquialism. I asked my friend why he chooses to type like that, he said because it's online and it means nothing, and also that he's lazy. I think the majority of people who use txt talk can agree to that, particularly the laziness aspect.

[Relambrien]

Originally Posted by skishmonkey72

Chatspeak is like a compressed file. When a file is compressed, it becomes smaller, but the process of reading it takes much longer than an uncompressed file. Normal English, however, is like uncompressed files, they are larger in size, but can be read much faster than something that has been compressed.

There's one difference. Compressed files take a much shorter time to transfer (write) than uncompressed files, but chatspeak doesn't offer too much of an advantage in time unless it's used excessively, and even then it isn't all that great.

Originally Posted by skishmonkey72

A side note, slightly off topic: What is with people and myspace? Facebook I understand, and it's a lot more user-friendly for people who just have profiles for themselves. The only time I ever go on myspace is to visit myspaces of bands that I like, and the thought of individuals having myspace rarely occurs to me. Why not just get facebook, and take advantage of the better-designed interface and capabilities, and leave myspace to bands, who can better take advantage of all myspace's features (ie: playing music on profile)

I actually never wanted to get a MySpace or Facebook; it was the fact that every conversation with my friends started with "Hey, did you get a MySpace yet?" that I got fed up enough to go through with it. Like I said, I don't even really do anything, just refresh it while other pages are loading to see if anything happens. I only did it to appease my friends (also, in before "peer pressure lol." I weighed the benefits and risks and found that getting a MySpace would be more beneficial than ignoring it). That's also the reason I don't have a Facebook; I never really wanted one in the first place.

Originally Posted by GuidoHunter

Get better friends who don't type like morons.

I guess one of my friend criteria should be "Does the potential friend have a MySpace?" Don't bother if he/she does, go ahead if he/she doesn't :P

Originally Posted by lurker

Grammar and spelling on the internet is just fashion and indicative of little beyond your typing speed or how much you care about it. Ideas of someone "sounding smart" or "typing like a moron" are just cultural associations. If you could actually gauge someone's intelligence from the way they write, then the SAT writing wouldn't be the joke it is now.

That's the whole point. Because of the way they choose to type, people may assume they have lower intelligence than they really do, even though, like you said, typing style isn't really indicative of intelligence. That's what annoys me.

Originally Posted by lurker

What should matter is the content of what you're saying. The friend in the original post didn't do anything that could show a lack of intelligence other than adding on something that was already understood. Language in general follows trends and changes just like fashion does; making fun of people for using "ur", "cuz", etc are equivalent to making fun of someone for dressing a certain way.

Try to imagine this in a normal, off-line conversation:

You: "Hey, you're having problems with your iPod?"
Friend: "Yeah, I can't get videos on it."
You: "Well, here's what you do. (List steps). Which part are you having trouble with?"
Friend: "Well...the problem is that I can't get videos on my iPod."

Even in a verbal conversation, that last remark is quite idiotic. That doesn't necessarily mean the person is, but the remark certainly is.

The problem is that I've noticed similar trends among all my friends who use chatspeak. A decrease in typing formality often accompanies a decrease in content quality. Why? I don't know; it's just something I've noticed. The more formally someone types, the better their ideas are, and vice versa.

My overall problem with chatspeak is basically its risk to reward ratio. You get a slightly faster typing speed if you're lucky, at the cost of the person on the other side having to spend an increased amount of time to decode your message. Often things are lost in translation. Besides that, you develop typing habits that can cause you to suffer whenever you have to type something formally, such as an assignment for school or a document for work. You also forfeit the ability to increase your own typing speed, by circumventing it with short-hand.

The risk to reward just isn't worth it.

[EOP_MAGNITUDE]

I used to talk like AIM speak, but eventually, because I'm a writer, I said to myself:
"What the hell are you doing?!"

So, know I type in as proper English as I can muster and am aware of, and even then I get called a 'nerd' by people typing "lik thiz."

Sometimes I don't know what this world will come to. I was talking to an AIM bot(the McLovin one; I thought it would be fun xD). So, I get a question and the posed answers were: yes or no.
My response was: Yes.
They didn't accept it. So, then I said, No.
Again, they didn't accept it. So finally, I said : yes
And they accepted it. But, what can you do? The only real solution I think is that there in comfort knowing that a majority(majority, not all) of these people will probably be working for you in the future!

[nestlekwik]

People constantly ask me why I type properly over AIM. That's probably why I stopped using it. But, anyway, it seems all I have to do is tell them I am a journalist/writer and the conversation about it is over. It obviously makes sense, but, seriously, I almost want to become an English teacher to smash some sense into these kids' skulls before our language is officially dubbed "American."

[GuidoHunter]

Originally Posted by _lurk3r

Grammar and spelling on the internet is just fashion and indicative of little beyond your typing speed or how much you care about it. Ideas of someone "sounding smart" or "typing like a moron" are just cultural associations. If you could actually gauge someone's intelligence from the way they write, then the SAT writing wouldn't be the joke it is now.

What should matter is the content of what you're saying. The friend in the original post didn't do anything that could show a lack of intelligence other than adding on something that was already understood. Language in general follows trends and changes just like fashion does; making fun of people for using "ur", "cuz", etc are equivalent to making fun of someone for dressing a certain way.

Aha, but it is those who care so little about their online conversational habits who do not communicate in an understandable manner. It is those people who, upon receipt of a PM from me stating very clearly that they've broken the new rule outlined in the sticky in Game Threads, and that they should stop breaking the rule under punishment of a ban, reply, "wat??? lol!!!!!" On the other hand, those who type with at least adequate grammatical habits have at least the sense to clarify their question and direct my attention to a particular point.

I think (and I'll go so far as to say everyone should think) less of people who type like that. Those people are destructive influences to themselves and to others, and if they do not have the presence of mind to type in a reasonably effective manner, they shall not receive the credit that they may deserve. I don't care how intelligent you may be in person, if you relegate yourself to the position of sloth for no good reason, appeal to the lowest form of sometimes-decipherable communication, and help foster such habits in yourself and in others, you've got a serious problem, and that problem is called "stupid".

There is no excuse for typing like a twelve year old girl on the internet, even if you're a twelve year old girl.

--Guido

[Tokzic]

My grammar over instant messengers was way better before I started being sarcastic constantly, dropping capitalization and punctuation most of the time. I never use "txt tlk" though and only two of my friends that I know in person use grammar in IM windows.

[eviloyster]

Me and most of my friends on myspace type coherently and in full sentences, and those who don't only do so because they can't.

And I don't get the big thing with Facebook. Around here Myspace is preferred 100% over Facebook, and the only people who prefer Facebook are 30+ : /

Also, people who do type in this whateveryou'dliketocallit abbreviated form of English, I stopped mocking them for it about 2 years ago, I grew out of that.

[Linkisdoomed]

Ugh, God. I hate when people just rant on with run-on sentences. You live in The fricking United States. Use your English.

[Specforces]

I don't talk to people over the internet that can't type coherently. If we do end up having a conversation and it's that annoying, I just usually end up blocking them.

[ieatyourlvllol]

Yeah, text talk basically makes you immune to communication. :whoops:

[Zageron]

You know. Face Book originated in SFU, Simon Fraser University. It was an in-school object only. Then the administration thought they would release to it other Universities... and eventually it got out. -_- Now it has been ruined.

[ddr_f4n]

I remember when I was a "txt tlkr" before. I was so used to it that I sometimes used it on my english essays, and when I look over it, I was like "what the hell am I doing?"

Thanks the FFR forum rules, I got rid of that habit now.

[LLaMaSaUceYup]

I hate when they type in 'txt talk'
I can't stand it, which is why I never do.
I made all my friends improve there typing or I wouldn't talk to them.
It worked :P

[MixMasterLar]

I use what you guys would call "Txt tlk" online. Im a slow typer and I probably always will be so when Im with someone I know (Shade, Jugglin, Fox, Nes) I start saying things like "prolly" or "cuz" to help the "convo" move along at a decent pace. If Im with a music artist that I dont really know, I try to type respectfully and proper.

Has anyone ever experienced any situations in which someone acts so much more idiotic online than they do in life?

PSP31

seriously, I almost want to become an English teacher to smash some sense into these kids' skulls

boo. that was aimed right at me =(

[skishmonkey72]

Originally Posted by Relambrien

There's one difference. Compressed files take a much shorter time to transfer (write) than uncompressed files, but chatspeak doesn't offer too much of an advantage in time unless it's used excessively, and even then it isn't all that great.

Compressed files generally take extra time to compress before transfer, which somewhat cancels the effect of decreased transfer time. It's still the same with chatspeak. It might take slightly longer to figure out how to put it into chatspeak, but it can get typed faster.

Originally Posted by Relambrien

I guess one of my friend criteria should be "Does the potential friend have a MySpace?" Don't bother if he/she does, go ahead if he/she doesn't :P

if (hasMyspace == false) {
addFriend();
} else {
System.err.println("Fatal unresolvable error. Exiting");
System.exit(1);
}

Originally Posted by Relambrien

That's the whole point. Because of the way they choose to type, people may assume they have lower intelligence than they really do, even though, like you said, typing style isn't really indicative of intelligence. That's what annoys me.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Relambrien

My overall problem with chatspeak is basically its risk to reward ratio. You get a slightly faster typing speed if you're lucky, at the cost of the person on the other side having to spend an increased amount of time to decode your message. Often things are lost in translation. Besides that, you develop typing habits that can cause you to suffer whenever you have to type something formally, such as an assignment for school or a document for work. You also forfeit the ability to increase your own typing speed, by circumventing it with short-hand.

The risk to reward just isn't worth it.

I agree.

[verra]

Same Lar it depends on what type of person it is that I'm talking to, if it's with friends I will resort to using "txt talk' to simplify what I have to type out, however if it with someone I don't know I will use proper English. What kind of scares me sometimes though is that some of my friends actually have used such things as "lol", and "wtf" in normal verbal conversations. Then I'm like...alright then. Haha.

[massflavour]

I think it's more annoying when unintelligent people try to pass off as intelligent by not using txt talk.