"Whether 'tis Nobler in writing to support
The Caps and Commas of proper English,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of rules,
And by opposing end them"

Totally screwed up Shakes' iambic pentameter there — whoops! But seriously. Today, Flock was getting on my case (lovingly, of course) about not using caps in my emails. I then started talking about my 'personal style guide,' of sorts. I have little personal rules I try to follow for Gchat (no caps, no punctuation), Twitter (caps, punctuation), email (no caps, punctuation), etc., and I think others do, too, even if they don't actually keep track of them.

Am I being inappropriate and kind of a douche, or is more free-wheeling and personalized style part of the internet age? DISCUSS.

lol @ "kind of a douche"- chuckling 2 myself imagining reading a email thinking "libby is being kind of a douche....". ;D

yr apparently not tha only 1 who eschews caps 4 a more casual feel- 4 me iv just been ingrained 4 years by professors etc 2 properly capitalize my shiz. the biggest thing i think is that it improves readabilty so in things that are longer (branches, longer emails) it actually HELPS the reader but in shorter things (twitter, gchat), its nbd cuz u get wut im saying rite?

GAH SO MUCH COGNITIVE DISSONANCE FORCING MYSELF TO TYPE LIKE THAT

So I guess what I meant by "I feel kinda douchey and then go back and capitalize" is that my internet superego makes me feel guilty bc of years of indoctrination and habit. NOT that anyone who doesn't capitalize is a douche. (sidenote what's your klouchebag score?)

klouchebag.com

mine is obviously highest of the branch team *le sigh*

I've LOVED living in Williamsburg. But every once in a while I come across a hipster that I shake my head at. Why? Because he or she is clearly trying SO HARD to make it look like they don't care at all. Raggedy, torn clothes that were actually bought at a shi shi thrift store. They make it look like they hopped out of bed and grabbed the first thing they saw, but it's actually a meticulously planned outfit that aims to eschew a planned look.

Though not perfectly analogous, seems related to this. I don't actually mind not using caps – I'm the worst at grammar and punctuation, in-general, and the king of excessively informal internal emails – but something about having theories behind when you use caps and punctuation seems excessive :)

@Andrew - Ironically, your klouchebag score is heavily influenced by... ENGLISH MISUSE! cl.ly Boom!

Then again mine is driven by RT abuse, so I guess nothing's sacred.

(Bug alert: Clicked contribute. While button was loading, it told me there were new posts. Before I clicked anything, my post appeared first while the button still looked like it was loading, and then it posted for the second time.)

@Josh - Yeah, but how many times have you seen someone (say, maybe, these guys frenchnavy.com.au) that looks really fantastic and very pulled together and you know that he or she put absurd amounts of effort into it but it looks so good that you can't stop staring and...

Just because you disagree with the aesthetic doesn't invalidate the practice. Modern Art 101, son.

GRAMMAR ERRORS. I would kill for that quick edit button right about now.