I am interested to know...

[Hirashio]

Why do people (not necessarily people of this guild) treat people who speak with either LEET (1337 for those of you who understand it) and text talk as if they are sub-human? People who are too lazy to type correctly or who type too fast to catch all of their mistakes are NOT sub-human. I have found an increasing number of people speaking to people who use Leet, text talk and who have bad grammar or spelling (whether intentional or not) speak to these people as if they are sub-human. Why? People are people despite their mistakes. Can you not take the time to correctly and respectfully talk to these people? I mean if you can take the time to correct people's leet, text talk, and grammar, why then can you not take the time to speak to them as if they are human for they are human.  

[ramforce]

Yeah, I agree.
Not to mention those who are not native speakers (like me) but still love a well written language. We try harder than many folks to type correctly but still there's just too many words that are either unfamiliar or unknown thus encouraging "txt tlk" as a way to hide possible spelling mistakes.
So, sometimes is not about laziness or stupidity but a matter of proper knowledge and typing skills (such as physically impaired people).

We have to be real careful when pointing fingers because we never know when it's going to be unfair or just simply wrong to stereotype someone because of the way that person types.  

[Yokushi]

Personally, I don't treat those people as sub-human. That would be taking it a little too far. But if you see all around you, most of the people who write in leet and text talk are very immature. And they deserve to be subjected to the low level of respect that they are given by the people who don't use leet and text talk.
Also, lack of knowledge about a language does not constitute dropping to the level of shamefully hiding your mistakes by using some backwards computer language. And anyone who does this is at the same level of respect as those who do it because they think it's the s**t.
People should not be afraid to make mistakes, because this is how we learn to better ourselves.

Quote:

An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.
Orlando A. Battista

Also, we are not refering to the "physically impaired". Do you really think so little of us, Ramforce?
Anyone who wants to learn proper grammar can do it with some effort. It is only a matter of reading and paying attention to what you write. If you know you are not writing properly, but refuse to make the effort to attempt a correction, then you are obviously lazy because you don't care enough about your writing to try to correct it.  

[Yo Sereno]

I dont treat them as 'sub-human' necessarily, but you have to admit, typing in 1337 and txt tlk when they know its not correct grammar is their choice. They decide that if, hey, they go and meet some guy who takes grammar highly, that that person is goign to treat them as a lower level. Because they are. They made the choice to not care about their grammar and how they are presented.

Its like all those kids out there, who think "I dont care what others think of how I dress", well, they do, to an extent, because they dress what they think looks good to them, so they care. In their mind, they look good, even if to some other peopel they look bad.

They make that choice. Usually I will decline form being their friend, or block them, or somehow NOT be friends with them. Simply because the 1337 and txttlk vexes me so much, and when I try to understand what they say (maybe they made a tpypo WHILE txttlk-ing, then its hard), they turn around and get mad in return. SO its their own choice. I simply treat them as illiterates.. who have less knowledge of their CORE language than I. Which is.. I think, pathetic. Severly.