I don't quite know what to make of this... what say you?

I just read some comments written to me, politely, by Vlad, and I thought it was worth putting up for wider debate. This point he raises has emerged several times before on my threads here and it intrigues me quite a bit. So here is what Vlad wrote...

Ironicly, I will reply to Vlad's comments mostly IN CAPITAL LETTERS, which he hates, in order that my responces are separate from Vlad's. Apologies to Vlad's ear holes.

Dear Greg,

I'll never forget the day I bought the first edition of your book "QueenLive". I paid a substantial amount of money for it, even though it was second-hand and I had to walk quite a bit to the shop where I bought it. The book vastly broadened my knowledge of Queen history and my horizons as a Queen fan. I think that it's a tremendous work and after all these years it's still a prized item in my collection. In other words, I admire you a great deal.
GB: THANK YOU. VERY NICE TO HEAR THAT. I APPRECIATE IT.

I just need to ask you one simple question:

Why do you feel this compulsive need to shout at us every time you show up at this board? Surely it's common knowledge that typing in uppercase is generally considered to be bad manners on the Internet and even in business correspondence.

GB: THIS IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE IN THE INTERNET COMMUNITY, YES. TRUE. IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT BOTHERS ME REMOTELY, AND IT IS NOT 'LAW', AS IT WERE, IN MY WORLD.

I AM NOT SHOUTING. THIS IS MERELY HOW YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO PERCEIVE IT. THIS IS PECULIAR TO YOU, AND MANY OTHERS. IT IS THE RESULT OF YOU TRAINING YOURSELF TO BE THIS WAY AND TO REACT THIS WAY. YOU DO IT SUBJECTIVELY, HOWEVER, NOT ALL THE TIME. I MEAN, YOU DO NOT GET PAIN IN YOUR EARS WHEN YOU READ THE NEWSPAPER HEADLINES EACH MORNING, OR ROAD SIGNS, OR WHEN YOU SEE 'ESSO' OR 'BP' PETROL STATIONS.

I RESPECT THAT MANY PEOPLE FEEL DIFFERENTLY ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE ME USING CAPITAL LETTERS, BUT THAT IS MY WAY. I ASK THAT YOU RESPECT MY PREFERENCES AS I DO YOURS.

I do not percieve that you are whispering, or talking calmly or louder than average, or quieter than average, when you write in small letters, nor do I imagine Brian May shouting VERY VERY LOUDLY at me when he sends an email saying, 'GREG, CAN YOU BE HERE AT 11 TOMORROW?'

This is all a bit weird to me. Silly, even, but I can see how some people think that way.

Vlad: Nothing personal, it's just that reading the caps really hurts both my eyes and my feelings.

READING CAPITAL LETTERS AND IT ACTUALLY AND PHYSICALLY HURTING YOUR EYES, IS A BIT STRANGE IN MY OPINION. I WONDER IF THE MEDICAL WORLD HAS RECOGNISED THIS????

PERHAPS THERE WILL BE HUGE LEGAL CLAIMS AND COURT CASES SOON WHERE PEOPLE WILL SUE W.H. SMITH AND WATERSTONES AND WOOLWORTHS FOR CAUSING PAIN TO THEIR EYES ALL THESE YEARS WITH THEIR HUGE HIGH STREET SIGNS. HOW INTERESTING WOULD THAT BE??? IT'S A GREAT CONCEPT.

BRIGHT LIGHT, LASERS, MARTIAN HEATRAYS, POINTED STICKS, RED-HOT POKERS, ACID, SAND, GRIT, DIRTY WATER, OBSCENE VISIONS, YES... I CAN SEE HOW THEY WOULD HURT EYES, BUT NOT CAPITAL LETTERS. THAT IS MY HONEST RESPONCE.

IF THEY HURT YOUR FEELINGS TOO, THAT IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE CONDITIONED YOURSELF TO THAT PARTICULAR THING.

RACIST COMMENTS AND NASTY PEOPLE WHO BAND THEM ABOUT, HURT MY FEELINGS, AND THAT TOO IS BECAUSE OVER THE YEARS I HAVE EVOLVED THAT WAY. I HAVE BECOME CONDITIONED TO BE AFFECTED ADVERSELY BY THOSE THINGS. IT DID NOT HAPPEN WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE. I CHOSE TO BE HURT BY SUCH THINGS, AS I CHOSE TO LAUGH AT MONTY PYTHON AND NOT BE OFFENDED BY IT.

I LIKE TO EMPHASIZE CERTAIN EXTRACTS OF MY WRITING, BY REINFORCING CERTAIN WORDS IN THEIR BIGGEST AND MOST IMPOSING FORM... I.E. BY OFFERING CERTAIN THINGS IN CAPTIALS.

Example: I was walking down the street last night when suddenly there was a MASSIVE explosion, has more impact, and is more vivid than instead writing... I was walking down the street last night when suddenly there was a massive explosion.

When I write about certain imb

Christ, that was a HUGE posting.

The ego of some people!!!!!!

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Queen Archivist wrote: [/QUOTENAME]..IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT BOTHERS ME REMOTELY, AND IT IS NOT 'LAW', AS IT WERE, IN MY WORLD...
[/QUOTE]

Always knew that you´re from outer-space...

But keep in mind, it´s meteorites that make an impact on earth... and not ET´s like you! ;-)

X*75. ii-+==]'';/.

This will only make sense to other E.T.'s

Please have your §§§±.<<~771 by next Tuesday.

Ta

Guess it´s time to call the "Men in Black"!?! :-)

^ Oh...it's greg. Hi there. (not brooks)Kinnear

Hi honey... or should I say my "Little Miss Sunshine"? ;-)

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Queen Archivist wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
I do not percieve that you are whispering, or talking calmly or louder than average, or quieter than average, when you write in small letters, nor do I imagine Brian May shouting VERY VERY LOUDLY at me when he sends an email saying, 'GREG, CAN YOU BE HERE AT 11 TOMORROW?'
[/QUOTE]

So what did Brian want?

I understand you perfectly Greg. There's nothing wrong with using caps. It may look as though you're shouting but if you were I think we'd tell by what you were saying.

Why not QUEEN ARCHIVIST then?

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]¼Microwave wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Queen Archivist wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
I do not percieve that you are whispering, or talking calmly or louder than average, or quieter than average, when you write in small letters, nor do I imagine Brian May shouting VERY VERY LOUDLY at me when he sends an email saying, 'GREG, CAN YOU BE HERE AT 11 TOMORROW?'
[/QUOTE]

So what did Brian want?[/QUOTE]

He wanted him to clean up the kitchen and mow the lawn... as usual!

"I RESPECT THAT MANY PEOPLE FEEL DIFFERENTLY ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE ME USING CAPITAL LETTERS, BUT THAT IS MY WAY. I ASK THAT YOU RESPECT MY PREFERENCES AS I DO YOURS."

While I've learned to ignore your use of CAPS as a sign of your indifference to internet, to be honest, your argument is a bit stupid.

Basically, this comes across as "You have etiquette I don't like, so respect my right to visit you and ignore it." Isn't that like burping at the dinnertable and saying, "It may be socially unacceptable to you folks, but respect my right to do it anyways"?

The trouble is that upper-case letters, when used for multiple continuous sentences and paragraphes, ARE harder to read. The absence of ascenders and descenders means your eyes and brain have to concentrate that little bit harder on differentiating the letters and words.

I'm sure the extra width in the letters and words also means that our eyes can't focus on longer words and groups of words in one 'go', and therefore the reading speed is slowed down even further.

Roadsigns, corporate logos and newspaper headlines are all generally either single words or simple statements. It's an entirely different situation to writing long streams of text in capital letters.

I understand why you use caps Greg, but please appreciate that they are harder to read.

I know this is the wrong thread, but I can't be assed to look for the old one...

Greg, I wanna send you a X-mas card.

Hey!

There's this thing called E-MAIL.
It's free! Use it!