I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like the Internet has been an integral part of my life. I don’t remember exactly when my family first established an Internet connection but I remember the first thing I did when I went online: CHAT ROOMS. I didn’t have AOL so I just went on chat rooms, and man were they cool. I remember staying up so late just so I could go online and type with people that I knew nothing about. I also remember being into this band and going on websites that had chat rooms for the fans so we could share our passion. Good times…
The other night I read Lisa Ede’s view on online writing. Gosh! I had no idea that it was this complicated. All I really thought of when I was online was typing and getting my point across. I did realize that the Internet was a new thing but people get used to new things right? When she compares the two letters, one from the twelfth century and the other one from 1999, I found it rather useless. Aren’t the differences between them obvious? Maybe not for everyone but just try to follow this: do parents (any) ever understand their kids? Let alone grandparents right? Well the same thing goes with writing. It evolves. Back in the day we had quill pen and parchment, now we use a keyboard and a screen. Is everyone going to be on the same page? No.
However I don’t think that Lisa’s view is completely useless. Since we were brought up using the web we don’t think it’s a big deal to insert J, lol, brb, etc… Lisa brings to our attention that in order to successfully write formally on the web we need to follow some rules. But don’t we always follow rules when we right? Grammar, spelling, etc…
Now, Mark Bernstein’s page rocks! His list is concise, terse, and interesting! He makes good points and they all take you to the same direction: be yourself when writing on the web. But it’s not because you’re writing on the web that you’re going to forget all the grammar rules and stuff. I really like his page, I thought it was more useful and easier to relate to.
