Do you think it is rude to write in capital letters?

[Amigo]

If you write in caps just like that it could mean that you simple want to emphasize what you are saying, isn't? Not that either you're shouting nor angry.
Unless you show evidences that you are angry, I don't think that using caps is a rude thing.

What's your opinon, please?

 

[becki_kanou]

Personally, I think one or two words in a post capitalized for emphasis is generally OK; but when all or most of the post is in capitals, the uniform letter size makes it a more difficult to read, and indicates that the person writing doesn't care enough about their audience to write properly. That certainly counts as rude in my book.

 

[Tsuyoiko]

As Becky says, capitals are harder to read than lower case, so at the very least it's irritating. In netiquette, doesn't upper case denote shouting? If so, it probably is quite rude, unless you are actually trying to portray the impression that you're shouting.

 

[Amigo]

Thank you very much for your opinions.
How about if you want to emphasize a sentence instead a single word?
Is rude to emphasize a sentence or title?
Why is it supposed to be difficult to read in capital letters?
Why the person writing doesn't care enough about their audience to write properly if it's written in caps? I don't understand.
I don't mind to adjust to it, of course, but I can't get the relation between caps and rudeness, unless you show evidences of anger in your post.

 

[becki_kanou]

Thank you very much for your opinions.
How about if you want to emphasize a sentence instead a single word?
Is rude to emphasize a sentence or title?

Bold or Italic is usually better for that, but when you can't use something like that I guess it's ok.

Why is it supposed to be difficult to read in capital letters?

Here's what Wikipedia says:

"However, the shapes of words set in lowercase provide a valuable cue to readers that helps speed the process of reading; type in all caps forms a rectangular shape for every word, which makes distinguishing words harder. As a result, text in all caps is not widely used in body copy, as it is difficult to read in extended passages."

Just from personal experience I also find this to be true.
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE: WHICH OF THESE TWO SENTENCES IS EASIER TO READ?
Here is an example: Which of these two sentences is easier to read?

Why the person writing doesn't care enough about their audience to write properly if it's written in caps? I don't understand.

Because it's difficult to read all caps, it shows that the person writing that way is not concerned about making their message easy for others to read.

 

[Amigo]

Ok, have just learned a new thing,

thank you for your dedication in explaining that to me, becki kanou.
You're very kind.

I'll try to be cafeful from now on.

 

[Seon-a Kim]

I consider it as rude and flaming

 

[Amigo]

I consider it as rude and flaming

I'm glad to know it. (Just as well!)

 

[Ashikaga]

Well, AMIGO... What does this say about our ID names?

 

[Amigo]

Well, AMIGO... What does this say about our ID names?

Very good point!

Actually I was thinking about it!

 

[Illusional]

caps as a form of an expression of how you feel is alright, but using the caps lock button on a constant basis will irritate anyone.

raverboy

 

[epigene]

Well, AMIGO... What does this say about our ID names?

Very good point!
Actually I was thinking about it!

Makes your names stand out for sure!

I think writing entire posts in caps is irritating and difficult to read--which frequenlty prompts me to skip reading it.
The same with posts written in font colors that make reading difficult.

 

[Mycernius]

I find it irritating if someone does it continually throughout a post, but this normally denotes a troll or spammer
ie:
"I LUV CHOCOLATE FROGS BUT HATE ANYONE WHO DOESN'T. BUY CHOCOLATE FROG FROM CHOCOLATE FROG .COM"

thus makes them easy to spot and dispose of. My main bug on forums is text speak rather than capitals.

 

[ShadowSpirit]

I find it irritating if someone does it continually throughout a post, but this normally denotes a troll or spammer
ie:
"I LUV CHOCOLATE FROGS BUT HATE ANYONE WHO DOESN'T. BUY CHOCOLATE FROG FROM CHOCOLATE FROG .COM"
thus makes them easy to spot and dispose of. My main bug on forums is text speak rather than capitals.

I dislike text speak also. Text speak constitutes more as a peeve rather than being rude though, wouldn't you agree?

Uppercase is associated with shouting and I agree with becki_kanou that it makes it difficult to read. I don't think a person has had an internet conversation in uppercase letters for longer than a minute without someone bringing to their attention that it is either rude, annoying, or in bad taste. If a person proceeds to type in uppercase letters, then that says something about how little they care to adjust their mannerisms.

 

[Tsuyoiko]

I HATE text speak

Most of the time we are pretty informal in e-mails at work, since usually I am writing to people I know reasonably well. But still, even though I might make a joke, or use the odd smiley, I always try to do so with proper spelling and grammar. There's one administrator who drives me crazy with her text speak, which I find totally inappropriate in a work e-mail. She always says 'pls' instead of 'please' and 'tks' for 'thank you'. :box:

Not sure who's more annoying, her, or the girl who uses a fluorescent yellow background for all her e-mails ☝

 

[ShadowSpirit]

or the girl who uses a fluorescent yellow background for all her e-mails

Ack! That would drive me crazy. Every time she sends you an email, you should reply with a template email that features epilepsy inducing animations that flashes the phrase. "Thank you for your email! Kikiki!" Be sure to include a .midi song to ensure that your appreciation is well noted.

 

[Haruspex]

I dislike leetspeak myself. Pls, etc. is just the first step, when they start to w317e l14e
7h12 things get a bit complicated.

 

[Tsuyoiko]

I dislike leetspeak myself.

Surely you mean 133t5p34k

This is going off the subject somewhat, but do you see crazy number plates where you are? A few years ago, it was mainly the nouveau riche who got them, and they were usually just their initials, or a quirky though recognisable variation on their name: K4TE, that type of thing. Now, it seems like everyone is getting them. Although they're always obviously a personalised plate, it gets harder to decipher what they're supposed to say.

Private Number Plates & Car Registrations | 0% Finance Available

Apparently this is the kid's initials. I thought it was supposed to say 'fart'

 

[ShadowSpirit]

Surely you mean 133t5p34k

OMG! Tsuyoiko iz teh haXX0rZ!

 

[Aurura]

I think that the kind of typing as shown in my signature is kinda funny, as long as it's presented as a little humor, and not for general text conversation.

As for all-caps, I easily see it as yelling as the average person might after seeing years of things such as comics where the majority of expressed anger (yelling, screams and high agitation), loud sounds and jolted emotions were conveyed by the use of all caps.

Which reminds me of certain comics that *always* used all-caps for their dialouge.. that was also highly annoying to me... I agree, it certainly makes the text harder to read.

 

[Haruspex]

Strangely enough screams and grunts in music lyrics aren't in caps.

ASCII art on the other hand is pretty fascinating. There are some that require plenty of caps.

 

[Aurura]

Some very nice examples can be found at:

Christopher Johnson's ASCII Art Collection

I tried (but failed miserably) to paste one of them here. Wow, it's hard to match-up the measurements of each line once you paste the image somewhere else.. ah well...