Proper grammar and spelling on a Duke board

[Exiled_Devil]

My generation uses Sype, G-Chat, and Facebook chat on a daily basis while having 17 other windows open with 17 different things going on. Surprisingly (?) there is a lot of quick back and forth with no use of the shift key, hyphens, and some people even forget to use commas. I completely understand if someone doesn't treat an internet sports fan forum as a place where gramatic accuracy is essential.

I pop in and out of DBR, and have made many posts defending it. Not as a Duke site, but as a specific kind of community. Here goes another:

By 'my generation' and the description here, I will assume that you are in your early 20's or so. If not, this may not be apt to you, but I think is a general point to Gen Y'ers.

There seems to be a general consensus among Gen Y'ers that everywhere in the internet is just like everywhere else, which is just like Facebook. Consequently, there is this universal internet right to speak (write) how you feel and the rest of the internet needs to adjust to it. Heck, the rest of the internet has adjusted to it, because it is how the internet writes.

However, the internet is in fact a series of communities. Some small, some large. As such, each community has its own set of norms and culture. DBR has a set of norms that is different from the world of Facebook, IM, and other sports boards. That's part of what makes it a great place for the people who have been here for over a decade.

When someone who comes in to a community gets upset because the community says 'that's not how you do it here', I have very little sympathy. That's how social groups work. You want to join, you need to adopt the norms. I'll acknowledge that it may be elitist, but when someone with under 50 posts complains 'just let me write - you know what I mean' I see it as someone who wants to be in the community, but not of the community. BEcoming of the community means connecting to its norms.

One of the things that people value about DBR is that it is a fairly unique place on the internet. Having the conversation devolve (develop, if you prefer) into something like facebook or IM would undermine that uniqueness.

This community asks each of us to communicate clearly, to back up assertions with data and to show respect to our team by spelling their names correctly. And I do say 'community' deliberately - its not just the mods,but everyone who requires that of each of us. That may be a problem for some - "who are you to tell me to write appropriately? You're not a mod!" - but the reality is that is what the community has set for near a decade, and consequently, the community expects that of new members.

No one has a right to be part of a community. We each need to chose membership and are consequently subject to the norms of the group. Norms can shift, but it takes more than a new member getting upset about a norm to shift it. The community itself must want it to shift. (which in this case, will likely not happen. DBR values articulate communication) And if you don't like a norm as you make your way into the community, that is your problem, not the community's

[muzikfrk75]

1st Amendment...or should I say 'First' Amendment

[Taco]

I will donate $100 in DBR's name to the charity of their choice if "scholly" and "schollys" are filtered to "scholarship" and "scholarships" the way "d o o k" is filtered to ... I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.

[Indoor66]

1st Amendment...or should I say 'First' Amendment

You may say it as often as you wish. The reality is that the 1st Amendment does not apply to DBR.