I've been called an idiot many times because i don't use correct grammar and punctuation on a forum. I've been guilty of a few participle phrases among other things. Sometimes I like to end my sentences with a question mark for rhetorical effect even though incorrect. Its not blindingly vexing to the reader nor is it misunderstood. But i didn't know i was writing a book or paper to be published, am I?? It makes me wonder who these people are that INSIST I must be an imbecile and correct me as if I can't read or write even though i scored in the high 700s on the verbal portion of my sats, though it was awhile ago. i'm just lazier on a forum. i think most people are. Who the hell are these people?? punctuation police??
punctuation police, or grammar nazis It matters on the importance of your post. If you really want a certain point to get heard, every character counts. But if you're just chiming in with something unimportant, clumsy words do just fine to convey your message.
I don't remember what your typical posts look like. But if you can write like this, I'm sure that even at your worst you're better than 90% of the people here. It bothers me when people write so poorly that it slows me down. The morons who never noticed that they have a Shift key are particularly vexing. They just don't understand how punctuation helps you parse a sentence and read it in real time. If English is your second language I'm very forgiving since spoken English is difficult enough to learn and written English is almost impossible, but some of these people write like they don't really have a first language. I correct people when they've made a genuine mistake in the meaning of a word and I hope they might appreciate the learning. And I criticize the jerks who think it's okay to waste the time of all these readers in puzzling out their sentences, rather than taking their own time to get it right in the first place. You don't fall into either category. Just shrug it off. No matter who you are and what you do, somebody will bitch about it.
I believe that if you want to be taken seriously, you should spell and punctuate somewhat properly, or at least make the attempt. But I agree with Fraggle: You don't seem to confuse the meanings of the words you use, nor do you waste our time by writing barely intelligible posts. So I think you pass.
