[Bêthberry]

What Squatter said.

Mlo, there is also something else to be said in response to your post--actually two points.

Ok, maybe the word 'bestest' isn't some normal spelling error, but you still get what he/she want's to say.

We also get another message, one that perhaps the person who wrote 'bestest' would not want us to get. That message is that the poster does not spend much time writing his or her posts and does not care to have his or her ideas accurately represented. This message is thus counter to the purpose of posting, for it discourages readers. See Gandalf the Grey's point about how he chooses which posts to pay attention to. Quite often laziness in writing creates the sense in readers that the ideas conveyed are not terribly well-thought out and probably aren't worth reading.

Why does it scare you to learn that some readers read this way? Is this idea new to you? That is all too often the case, that young and new learners of a language do not understand that words convey meanings and messages beyond those of the "content". As has been said countless times here, the arguments are not being marshalled against second language learners or those with disabilities or even against the odd typo and mistake, but against the frame of mind which tolerates sloppy writing and which thinks that the form of language doesn't matter.

I would think that, rather than being scared, it would be valuable to understand how other people read certain kinds of writing, to learn that words are not just a gussied up package for marketing ideas, but that the very words and language and style used to convey an idea are part of the meaning of that idea.

It is really a false notion to think that words and ideas are separate things. No idea is fully formed until it is given shape and form and expression in language.

Let me quote Marshall McLuhan here:

The medium is the message.

Respectfully,
Bethberry