>Thank you for your concern.  My letters indeed get proofed!  Severe
>nerve injuries cause my typos-- mine is not a perfect world.  I do
>not always have the luxury of having my email posts corrected and
>rather than not post - I do forward.
 
I certainly hope the original poster meant no offense!  I often think the
same thing.  But, since the majority of us never meet, and only see what
each other type, it's difficult for us to know about things like the
above.  Alicia, I'm sorry to hear about your disability, and it certainly
gives you an excuse for the occasional typo!  But, here in the internet
world we tolerate a certain amount of slop, anyway.
 
But there are those who do this intentionally.  Particular among many
younger people (not necessarily on the FML), it seems to be vogue to skip
punctuation and capitalization altogether.  It is EXTREMELY difficult to
read a post or email written like this.  On the internet, there is no
"tone of voice" or "inflection" or "pause" like you get when speaking to
tell us how to interpret your words.  So please, do try to write as well
as you are able.  (That's the generic "you", not Alicia.)
 
Again, we're forgiving here.  But this is particularly important if you
are writing letters, say, to your alderman about the Chicago situation,
or your congressman about legalizing ferrets in CA.... Those letters
should be flawless.  I'm sure congressmen get rude or poorly written
letters all the time.  But, as the first poster pointed out, the more
polite and grammatically correct your letter is, the more respect it will
get and the more seriously it will be taken.  This reflects not only on
you, but on the whole ferret community!
 
So, don't be shy.  If you have to, have someone else proofread your
letters before you send them.  It's well-known that a writer can't
effectively proofread his or her own work - you tend to read what you
intended rather than what you actually wrote.
 
As an aside, is it just me, or do we have a lot of shelter operators with
disabilities?  It seems like a curious correlation.  Is it just chance
or is there something that draws those with disabilities to this sort of
work?  No offense meant - it's just a curious observation.
 
roger
[Posted in FML issue 4250]