e-grammar

[Roses Ablaze]

Okay, this is kind of a strange thing that's been bothering me for a long time. I realize there's no standard for how to handle Internetisms, but if there were, what do you think would be the correct way to:

~handle smilies after sentences? Should they be used in place of punctuations? After the punctuation? Before?
~spell the word for annoying messages on messageboards? SPAM (an acronym for Short Pointless Annoying Messages) or spam (an alternate definition for the word that means soliciting e-mails)?

And if someone's screenname is all lowercase, should you still capatalize it at the beginning of a sentence? Some people can get really sensitive about not punctuating their screenname properly...

 

[Argy]

These are just the things I do. Other people may be different, since I don't think anyone has come up with any rules.

1) I put smilies after punctuation.
2) I use "spam" (lowercase) for both forms, because I see it as an unwanted message in general.
3) As someone who used to have a lowercase username (rgmusashi) and was annoyed by manglings, I keep them lowercase even at the beginning of sentences just to be safe.

 

[DarkEliteKaren]

1. Smilies after punctuation for me.
2. I use the lowercase "spam."
3. I tend to capitalize lowercase screen names at the beginning of a sentence simply because a sentence started in lowercase is one of my pet peeves (as is typing in all lowercase/all uppercase). I know some people can be touchy about their screen names like that, and they're more than welcome to type them however they want at the beginning of a sentence. It just bugs me enough that I can't bring myself to type it that way.

 

[Astinus]

1. When I used to use smilies, I would place them at the end of a mark of punctuation. It doesn't seem right to...ignore punctuation because you have a smilie. It's not like the smilie is part of the sentence, or is even a mark of punctuation.

2. I use "spam" as all capitals makes it stick out more. That bothers me. And the only time that I capitalise the word is when I am talking about the meat by-product.

3. I think of some way to switch the sentence around so that the lower-case screen name is either in the middle or at the end. I as well have issues with sentences that do not begin with a capital letter.

 

[Lon]

1.) Smilies come after punctuation for me.

2.) SPAM, in order to make it seem more..... visible.

3.) As for user names, I say that the way the name is should be used. However, I do have a habit of omitting all the extra symbols in a name, leaving only the letters....

 

[Kthleen]

1. I put smilies after punctuation, except inside parentheses that are part of a longer sentence, even if the parentheses come at the end, unless the smiley represents the entire sentence.

I hate it when people use smilies in place of punctuation.

2. Although I don't use the word, I would use "spam."

3. I often either copy-&-paste or abbreviate names. In the event that I do type them out, I type 'em as I see 'em. I leave their specific capitalization (and, if there is any, punctuation) intact, regardless of their position in the sentence.