I would be lying if I said the details of this question didn’t make me laugh.
@atch first of all, welcome to Fluther. Secondly, please don’t feel picked on. It took most of us a while to get accustomed to the rules and guidelines here. However, in the long run it is what most of us have grown to appreciate the most about this site. Fluther’s moderation and guidelines are a big part of what sets it apart from similar Q&A sites. There is a focus on correct spelling and grammar, but it usually isn’t terribly strict. The idea is to form thoughtful, coherent responses and questions.
We are a little silly sometimes, though, as well. It seems you’ve noticed. :)

Also, please don’t panic.. but I flagged your question to be sent to the “meta” section, which is where we ask questions relating directly to Fluther.com

And be prepared for later to have a lot of questions sent into edit because of incorrect usage of punctuation too. Be sure not to be rude to others or most your replies will be moderated as attacks. etc
Read the guidelines because most of us respect them ^^

I guess starting a sentence with “and” is permitted.

The site is great, though. Very addictive at 2 am.

@atch it’s not as strict as you’re imagining. Not even close. The idea is for people to slow down a little bit, think about what they’re writing, and proper capitalization, spelling, and punctuation doesn’t hurt. We all make mistakes, believe me.. I’ve written plenty of responses that made virtually no sense because of typos or misspellings. Most of the time they go undetected.
However, writing every sentence without a capital letter or failing to use punctuation tends to lead to confusion. Does “not capitalizing make you an idiot?” No. That’s just not how we roll. ;)

No, of course it doesn’t make a person an idiot. But it does make that person’s posts annoying to a significant number of us.

There is a pretty wide range of tolerance on fluther, but the standard is set a bit high. In general, sloppy composition does bother many, whereas accurate and careful writing does not (usually). And it’s not that the community created that set of rules; rather, the type of community that has gathered here tends on the whole (though not exclusively) to be one that values those rules and is happy to follow them.

Anyone can make a typo or a thoughtless error; it happens all the time. But a wholesale lack of consideration for the standards of good practice shows disrespect for the guidelines and for the culture of the community.

Welcome to Fluther, @atch. We definitely don’t think you’re an idiot. We just have a certain way we’d like the site to be maintained, and proper writing plays a big role in that.

I’m the CM here, and the one who sent you the message about capitalization. When we say “smart and spiffy”, we’re not talking about intelligence. The word “smart” has several different meanings, and in this case, we’re referring to this one: neat, trim (see 6A).

Failing to capitalize over a period of many years has been known to cause a mild cognitive deficit in some, but there is no case on record in which it was shown to cause idiocy. Don’t worry, it’ll all work out.

Thank you for smarting me on the word smart. I bought a bunch of college books that were disgustingly expensive, and they came in a bag thag said “you look smarter already.” I leaned to the person next to me and said that it should read, ...smarted.

What does “respose” mean?

I have been a member for about an hour, and some of these questions are ridiculous. One of the Fluther conundrums. I have to agree, there are way too many question that are nothing but boring, ridiculous, fluff, that generates less brain power than that release when a cotton ball lands on a big pile of goose down.

Better break out your dictionary, thesaurus, and your dog-eared copy of Strunk and White The Elements of Style, because THEY WILL rake you over the coals for misused word, typos, and very poor grammar. <peeking over in the direction of the site manager> I have to qualify it though, they are not malicious doing so. :-)

<eyes @Hypocrisy_Central>

Welcome to Fluther, @atch , and if you’re lucky you’ll get to see a smackdown between @augustlan (she’s our mommy and she has a whip) and @Hypocrisy_Central (whose typos are beyond legendary here, so we love to smack him)

Erm, now let me see, paris is the capital of italy &.................ow, my head hurts!

Auggie can only whack me if she does it with a rattan cane, I have to keep up the masculine appearance ;-P

I have been here a long time and my questions get sent to moderation for writing standards all the time. It makes me feel silly, especially when I can’t figure out what I did wrong, and someone has to point it out to me. One time (recently) I kept changing my sentences around and even called my English teacher daughter to help me, only to discover that the problem was in the initial question, not in the details. It was obvious when someone pointed it out, but I was just looking in the wrong place.
Don’t take it personally. This place is full of lurve, and you will soon be addicted. (And a better writer :-)

I can hardly form a sentence, and, I, overuse, commas, and, my, posts, are full of typoz typos.

I welcome the level of grammar and spelling policing that goes on here. It is good for me and good for the community. There have been questions that I have read thirty times in an attempt to understand what was being asked. When the question came back after being edited, it made complete sense.

Have you had an opportunity to read over the guidelines yet?

Maybe not an idiot, but definitely less intelligent.

Even in school, the teachers take off for spelling, and capitalization.

@atch Welcome to Fluther. Say goodbye to any other aspects of your life.
Once you get your footing here, you will enjoy this site. The Mods are often critical about spelling, capitalizing, and other seemingly petty concerns, but it does result in a better looking and more useful site. The Mods have a difficult job, and usually perform it amazingly well.
Kissing mod ass also helps.
btw, I love that one of your topics here is “idoits”.

Are you e.e. cummings? He’s the only one who would likely get a pass on capitalization.

Welcome to Fluther!

@atch ; There is more moderation in the questions than the answers. The answers still get moderated, but there is a little more tolerance.

@atch From your question and subsequent posts, you’ll fit right in. Remember two things: it’s a community, first – so some of the questions are just a kind of shout out to the other jellies – especially in Social – and not to be taken too seriously – that’s what General is for – and secondly, the moderation can be strict at times, but we have grown to appreciate it. Don’t forget that they are people, and volunteers at that, and each one might interpret something differently, as is the case with people.

I think you’ll do just great. Welcome.

@atch- And incidentally, it’s perfectly acceptable to begin a sentence with “and”.

I can capitalize but I can’t think of anything smart to say. Go figure.

@Hypocrisy_Central: One of the Fluther conundrums. I have to agree, there are way too many question that are nothing but boring, ridiculous, fluff, that generates less brain power than that release (sic) when a cotton ball lands on a big pile of goose down.

This is the pot calling the kettle black, speaking of Boring questions, a rubric I believed that you coined.

@atch: Under the most flexible guidelines, smarting is not a word.

@gailcalled, @atch is still smarting from that cruel reprimand.

@ratboy : You are right, of course. Sorry.

One other example of why Fluther is so wonderful. Thank you for “undumbing” me.

I disagree with @gailcalled – I find @Hypocrisy_Central ‘s question anything but boring. Ridiculous, insane and most of the time incomprehensible – but not boring.

@zensky: Please note, I personally am not labeling his questions boring. I was quoting the rubric that he used until recently to start most of his questions.

Mercifully, he has stopped. And you used incomprehensible, not me.

I stand by incomprehensible. To me, anyway.

When I first read this question I thought it was about finances!

The modding here @atch is about as perfect as the Internet allows. Occasionally a spammer gets in, but the collective will take care of the guidelines and set you straight if the mods are otherwise occupied.

yes.

okay @erich not capitalized ;P

@zensky.I stand by incomprehensible. You get no quarrel with me on that label, I promise you

@gailcalled I guess our pact really was for naught.

@FutureMemory: I guess that I could only wiggle out of this with a very convoluted argument.

So, I will go back to doing research on independent day schools in N. IL for cruisercruiser as an act of redemption.

And stop looking over my shoulder, for pity’s sake.

We should have known we couldn’t fight the urge. It was a noble effort.

@gailcalled This is the pot calling the kettle black, speaking of Boring questions, a rubric I believed that you coined. Oh, I will admit, I ask way too many fluff even for my taste. If you have a restaurant, you have to serve what people want to eat. It is no use trying to serve seafood when most in the area want steak or Mexican food.

Please note, I personally am not labeling his questions boring. I was quoting the rubric that he used until recently to start most of his questions. Even a chef gets tired of pigs in a blanket, even if that is what is diners crave. I got disinterested myself, and because there were actually a few questions at the time that actually teased my Gray matter other than “Does she like me?”, “Can I get him to love me again?” brain drain.

@zensky I find @Hypocrisy_Central ‘s question anything but boring. Ridiculous, insane and most of the time incomprehensible – but not boring. When a chef creates a dish that looks more like art than food, people often miss it too. It just looks like squiggly orange and green foamy worms atop a cake-like brick with some other strange twigs. If one never opened their mind enough to sit down and taste even though it did not look like a pin in a blanket, they might get a sensation on the tongue they never had.

@FutureMemory @gailcalled I guess our pact really was for naught. I knew there was tag teaming going on LOL LOL LOL Good luck with that LOL LOL

Thanks, @Hypocrisy_Central. Now I’m hungry.

@AstroChuck Pig in a blanket?? ;-)

You actually don’t have to have really good grammar. You won’t be reprimanded for passive voice, dangling modifiers, or misused semicolons. It’s more like “Have the basic grammar that 8th grade required of you”, not “Have the advanced grasp on the ins and outs of the English language and its history that an English doctoral student would need”. Really, if you managed to turn in a three paragraph essay on the American Revolution (or your country’s equivalent) and when you got it back, it didn’t look like it was bleeding out from having a run-in with a deranged butcher, you’ll be fine.

We don’t think your an idiot or an idoit.

We just like proper grammar.

@XOIIO- You might want to correct you’re your own grammar before time expires.

F*cking autocorrect.

If we dint uz corect speling an grammar, all our post wuld b txtspeak.

^ Example A of what some people would say if we did not enforce correct spelling and grammer. I would rather be forced to use correct English than have to deal with everyone else using txtspeak.

I rest my case.

What @Aethelflaed said. Otherwise, I’d be screwed.

Is it really that fucking hard to use proper capitalization?

For, bob it is.

Dem’s fighting words. Just saying.

@bob_ Lol. I always liked it when people who type every other letter in caps (LiKe ThIs) would complain about how much harder it would be to only capitalize the first letter of every sentence.

Yes. It is hard to use proper capitalization. I did that shit in school because I had to. It is an interuption to flowing type-thought. I explained the entire world and the answer to everything and it was deleted because it wasn’t capitalized.

@atch If there’s any answer you’d like to get a copy of, so you can repost with proper capitalization, just let me know. I’ll be happy to send it to you.

I would like to get a copy of the very first answer I typed to the query about the qoutes from “The Road to Suicide” as referenced in Revolver, before I joined. PM

You pullin’ my leg, there, @atch?

G’day @atch. I doubt there would be many people here (if any) who haven’t faced the moderation board at some point. Looking forward to hearing more from you. Welcome to Fluther.

@atch You can always type it out without caps, and then go back and edit for caps (and other things, if you need to. Lord knows I have to spellcheck at the end, not as I go).

Just as a note, @atch , although it may be inconvenient for you to type with caps and @Aethelflaed has a great suggestion aren’t you writing in order to have the rest of us read? I personally and I know many others here, too, who will simply skip over a no-caps answer as A) that requires me to do your editing and B) the credibility of such a post is deeply diminished for me because the poster couldn’t extend me the same courtesy that I try to extend to others. You could be posting pure gold and lose a lot of your audience.

@atch You said that you’ve recently entered college, I believe? Perhaps you could look at Fluther as a practice arena for college writing. College doesn’t tend to look to kindly upon papers that aren’t properly capitalized, and with most majors, writing isn’t a skill you whip out only a couple times a semester. So maybe getting used to it on Fluther will help you get in the habit of capitalization (and then you’ll have one less thing to do when it’s 7:03 AM, and you’ve got a paper due in 8 hours, and still need to write a page and a half)?

Leave now. While you still can.

@atch: Note the cogent and easily understood answers here, especially those of @Aethelflaed and @JilltheTooth. They are self-referential, of course.

Yes. It is hard to use proper capitalization. I did that shit in school because I had to. It is an interuption to flowing type-thought.

Perhaps flowing type-thought would benefit from some interruption. The only one permitted to write that way is James Joyce.

(And do note that flowing- type thought means something very different than flowing type-thought. If I have to stop and consider what a type-thought that flows means, I am apt to skip the rest of the question (or answer). Neither is very felicitous.

I am a banana.

@erichw1504: And here I thought your spoon was too big.

I honestly don’t understand why people bitch about using proper capitalization and grammar. It’s not difficult; it’s 6th grade English. This is why so many uneducated people graduate High School without even knowing the basics, and turn into people like my husband’s uncle who pronounces words like:
barely = varely
similar = simyooler
chimney = chimley
scroll saw = scrotum saw (He seriously says this. And yes, that makes him an “idoit”.)

Start whining about capitalization, and every other English skill begins to slip, because of the “I don’t give a shit” attitude.

My scrotum saw is varely simyooler to my chimley.

@erichw1504 eye no, write? yew shud c a doktur abowt dat.

Any male that uses scrotum and saw together must be an idiot.

Or at least a little idoit.

ow ow ow ow…I don’t even have a scrotum well, not anymore, I got a saw… and this hurts to read!

Hands up, for all the males that pressed their legs together.

\o/

It’s automatic.

Well, Then I Must Be Very Intelligent!

Seven Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make you Look Dumb

And some more from the readers of the above article

Scrotum saw, oh my!

No, I don’t think it does. I have terrible grammar and constantly forget to capitalize. I really don’t believe I’m an idiot, maybe just not grammatically smart? If there is really such a categorization of such type of intelligence.

I’m still amazed that your question states that you’ve been here for only an hour or so, and yet you’re already complaining.

@size7 you’ll either “reinvent” yourself and gt used to the rules here and act according to them. [they are not that terrible .. think of it a bit. You do not care how you write but we care when we read .. my grammar sucks too but I try to improve it] or forget about this site and stick to other q&a sites.

@syz it might be annoying at first .. he tries to give a reply and he gets moderated everywhere ^^

@Hibernate although I do try to adapt, someo f us ar too siple to du just ahta.
I am try9in g now, if it hasn’rt madi it, I do appologize.
I put an honest effort into it though.

I’m glad to hear it. Keep it up ^^

@size7: Unamusing and unoriginal and unworthy of the time of the readers here. Welcome, but stop being silly, please. Or go find a club that has members with your point of view (and expect eye strain.)

@gailcalled I apologize for wasting your time.