Do you judge people by the way they type?

[Perfectdark]

I always wonder if people who type like they think they're some gang member have to try and type like they're stupid or does it come naturally? I can forgive people who don't have the luxury of having English as their first language. A long time ago, like mid 1990s, I was one of these people. yo man dude wtf iz up with dat guy. Stupid shit like that. Then I got told one sentence from a friend that changed it all: "stop typing like a dipshit", so I did lol. I wanted to prove to him that wasn't me, and since then I've always had awesome grammar online (I took a big interest in English class when it came time to Spelling, in grade school, so that part of my speech was never an issue). I guess the thug speak or whatever the hell it is was just a product of me being confident enough with normal typing that I was bored so I wanted to change.....guess the change is more undesirable now than any other time lol

[MasterHamster]

Yes I do.
Whenever someone types something like "u r noob" I regard them as simply stupid

it's pretty sad that I regard someone who can type "you" as above average.

[lakhesis]

And why is that?

I will judge a person based on the contents of his post, not on his typing. If a person isn't good at English it doesn't mean that he can't bring up a good point.

Sorry, took that as a given.

To clarify: I will absolutely judge someone based on how they type/communicate, and I regard what they actually say as part of that communication. However no matter how brilliant your ideas, you need to be able to communicate those ideas to others lucidly if you want to share those ideas - genius does not get a free pass, it just gets an easier pass.

Generally speaking I think the difference between someone typing in a second language & someone being incoherent is reasonably obvious (e.g. correct spelling with odd word order versus txtspeak).

[Themius]

When people say "lyfe" instead of "life" or "dem" instead of "them", I do judge them negatively.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

I think I do. I mean, I know everyone makes typos. But when you're typing like that constantly, it shows you're either of less-than-average intelligence, lazy, or some combination thereof.

[Krysann]

Yes I do judge them based on the situation. Rapid one handed, no punctuation in a chat situation I will be more forgiving. Getting an email that has "R U hiring for knight opnins?" gets tossed in the trash. I have seen some amazing slaughter of the English language on cover letters to resumes which further destroyed any attempt at communication. If you want people to take you seriously, at least attempt to not completely butcher the language in which you are using. Capitalize the first letter of the sentence and any proper nouns. Use appropriate punctuation. And for the love of all that is sacred from the dawn of recorded history, do not send emails or cover letters to potential employers using the same sad attempt at slang as you would with your drunken buddies on keg night.

[Chirri]

Well sure. Kind of like I'd judge someone walking down the street in PJs, or clearly unwashed, or crusty (not work related) clothing. Just from a distance, I'll have preconceptions flitting absently through my mind. I'm not going to treat them like crap, or tell them to take a bath/wash their clothing, though. If they interact with me using full sentences, and are coherent, I'll understand they're having a really, really crappy day or week and behave otherwise normally.

Same with how people present themselves through text based communication. I'm alright with dropping upper case letters, typos, flat out misspellings, the occasional punctuation (sometimes including ' and sometimes not). Chronic avoidance of any type of punctuation irks me. I won't correct them. Chronic use of non-words in place of full words with all of their letters irks me. I won't correct that either. Lots of Zs in places of Ss - irk, no correction. I'll simply think very poorly of them.

Some people argue that they can type on forums and txt messages and chat places however they want, they won't type so poorly when it comes to a school report or job application or resume. And yet... people actually do so. Not everyone, certainly, but enough so that the assumption isn't without basis. Some things are a conscious choice, and some things are habits reinforced by a conscious choice. Typing like a kid from a decade ago trying to pretend he's leet and cool makes anyone doing so look like an idiot, particularly if it's their sole mode of typing. If it's used rarely for a laugh, that's one thing, but typing like that all the time... boo.

[Deleted]

I always wonder if people who type like they think they're some gang member have to try and type like they're stupid or does it come naturally? I can forgive people who don't have the luxury of having English as their first language. A long time ago, like mid 1990s, I was one of these people. yo man dude wtf iz up with dat guy. Stupid shit like that. Then I got told one sentence from a friend that changed it all: "stop typing like a dipshit", so I did lol. I wanted to prove to him that wasn't me, and since then I've always had awesome grammar online (I took a big interest in English class when it came time to Spelling, in grade school, so that part of my speech was never an issue). I guess the thug speak or whatever the hell it is was just a product of me being confident enough with normal typing that I was bored so I wanted to change.....guess the change is more undesirable now than any other time lol

Hurray for the success story. :P

[Dazzy]

I definitely do, however I never act on it. It's not like I'll yell at a friend or stop talking to someone because they write "R U going 2 teh store soon???" ... even if it does make me want to crash a helicopter into their spine.

I just type random letters and characters back to the people that do that, they get the hint eventually.

[Zoma]

I can forgive a few mistakes, though they kind of irk me. If I see a wall of text with numerous punctuation errors and shortcuts like 'u' instead of 'you', I generally assume it isn't worth reading. On the rare occasion that I read it anyway, I'm usually proven right.

Also, it annoys me when I see someone start and end their sentence with 'lol'. Either/or is fine, but having it at both makes me think the person is either a troll or an idiot, depending on what is between the lols.

[Monoxyde]

Yes, I judge people by how they type. It's often our first impression of another player in game. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck..

[Aristeia]

If you're gonna type like an idiot, I'm gonna think you're an idiot. It's just a big time-saver because it usually turns out to be true.

[La]

i don`t really care how people type as long as i can understand them, and I *hate* people who correct others as if they`re smarter than someone else or better because they use "perfect" grammar. maybe that other person is lazy, maybe they don`t speak english as their first language, who are you to judge someone else and think you`re better or smarter because of it? i say ur, ya, wut, i shorten any words i can when i type in game because i`m lazy... doesn`t make me dumb, lol.

[starlord]

i type this way on purpose

[Derpules]

Posting on page 3, does anyone read that far into threads? For me it just comes off as laziness when simple things like capital letter, or words are mixed up. Things like; lose/loose fair/fare bear/bare then/than our/are. I'm no English major, but some people aren't even trying. I only really started caring in the last few years or so, maybe it's because 30 is knocking at the door.

[Arganis]

I have absolutely zero idea why you said "poor" people.
What?

Because in my experience people who use :3 are usually poor. Why? I have no clue, maybe it's cause they live in white trash ghettos where :3 is a way of expressing yourself. Don't know, don't care.

Infracted

[k8e]

i don't capitalize and i leave out apostrophes often (usually only in longer words like havent or doesnt.) get mad.

[AlamarAtMMOC]

Yes, my gawd, yes...

Simply put, if your spelling is bad, and I don't mean mistakes like I makea ll the time, I think you're stupid... (sic)... I also don't mean 'English second language' : )

If you try to argue that correct spelling/grammar in a medium that is all about typing, is not important, I assume you'll always be stupid...

If you try to argue that people still understand your message, I'll just think those people are stupid too : )

For me, it comes from the desire to be understood, precisely, and conversely, to understand... It frustrates me when some people can't be bothered to try to learn how to communicate.

-Alamar

[Seegtease]

In a chatroom/IM? I don't care. Chat in WoW? Definitely don't care.

However, I expect forum posts to look clean. Usually they are longer, and will be easier to read with proper punctuation and grammar. If someone cannot bother to take the minuscule bit of effort required to make their posts look clean, then I just cannot take them seriously, since they don't seem to really care. If you want to participate in an intelligent discussion, act intelligent.

On the flip-side, I've seen people use such "eloquent" speech that it seems like they're referencing a thesaurus for every other word. In those cases, I might regard them as pretentious and again not take them as seriously. Both extremes can be just as bad, though I must say I dislike bad grammar worse. Proper punctuation and grammar show that at least you want your point to be made respectfully.

Typos I couldn't care less about. They happen. What shows ignorance is not knowing the difference between "your" and "you're". Or worse yet: "their", "there", and "they're". If someone cannot distinguish those basic words, it's not a matter of laziness, it's a matter of ignorance, and I'll know I'm dealing with someone who just isn't the brightest person; perhaps they didn't pay attention in elementary school.

So yes, I judge them. I judge them much like I would someone who spoke to me like an idiot. "Dem dere is some hot girl! I go hit on her, you watch, I'ma learn you something." We SHOULD judge those types of people. The judgment isn't a stereotype or a bad judgment. It's accurate, because the way you type and speak does indeed reflect your character and intellect. There's a reason they teach us these things in school, and if you choose to ignore them, you choose to look ignorant.

[Deleted]

Because in my experience people who use :3 are usually poor. Why? I have no clue, maybe it's cause they live in white trash ghettos where :3 is a way of expressing yourself. Don't know, don't care.

Oh, an American thing then.
You mean sort of... uh, what we'd call "Chavs" in England.
Well they are certainly poor, but then again so am I, I just don't talk like a retard and smoother myself in fake tan and appear on the Jeremy Kyle show. (I believe you have that in America now.)