Tangent:
In other words, I don't really agree that "forum lingo" is spoiling the quality of writing. I think the internet, generally, probably has already changed the face of writing significantly, but not in a bad way. In regards to this effect, I think firstly, there was always bad writing and good writing and probably always will be; secondly that substantial grammatical/lexical change is more likely to be controlled more by oral language than forum lingo, in all honesty; and thirdly that language evolution is what turned Middle English into modern English and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
On the contrary, I am quite excited to be living in this age. Who knows what sorts of grammatical and lexical processes might be occurring in English due to internet alone! I shall leave you with what many might consider a sobering thought, but one with which I am entirely fascinated: that there are people today who actually use "lol" phonetically in oral language. How exciting!
EDIT: Oh one last edit, honest, and only because I'm selfconscious... (This seems to be the perpetual state of a forum-frequenter.) ...I know I'm not very good at writing. Schrodinger's post is endlessly more succinct and better organised than mine. I doubt refining my comments further at this point will enlighten either myself or anyone else if it hasn't already. Despite its ramblyness and lack of focus I hope the basic thrust of my opinion has been conveyed, and welcome further comments on this most interesting topic!
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EDIT: Alright, so I lied. Another edit. This one is another thought, though, and I'm only editing because I'm avoiding double-posting.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on everything you said about that 5-paragraph essay. Not that I was particularly stellar producing them. I certainly did not go on to become a writer as you have, Schrodinger. However I agree absolutely you have to learn the basic rules before you learn to break them. As an Arts graduate whose "works" (ie, sit down let's write a piece type deliberate work) of leisure writing are predominantly fiction, I have found non-fiction, informative essays to be far more useful in my life than fictional pieces. What a good thing they still teach them in schools.
Spoiler
In other words, I don't really agree that "forum lingo" is spoiling the quality of writing. I think the internet, generally, probably has already changed the face of writing significantly, but not in a bad way. In regards to this effect, I think firstly, there was always bad writing and good writing and probably always will be; secondly that substantial grammatical/lexical change is more likely to be controlled more by oral language than forum lingo, in all honesty; and thirdly that language evolution is what turned Middle English into modern English and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
On the contrary, I am quite excited to be living in this age. Who knows what sorts of grammatical and lexical processes might be occurring in English due to internet alone! I shall leave you with what many might consider a sobering thought, but one with which I am entirely fascinated: that there are people today who actually use "lol" phonetically in oral language. How exciting!
EDIT: Oh one last edit, honest, and only because I'm selfconscious... (This seems to be the perpetual state of a forum-frequenter.) ...I know I'm not very good at writing. Schrodinger's post is endlessly more succinct and better organised than mine. I doubt refining my comments further at this point will enlighten either myself or anyone else if it hasn't already. Despite its ramblyness and lack of focus I hope the basic thrust of my opinion has been conveyed, and welcome further comments on this most interesting topic!
---
EDIT: Alright, so I lied. Another edit. This one is another thought, though, and I'm only editing because I'm avoiding double-posting.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on everything you said about that 5-paragraph essay. Not that I was particularly stellar producing them. I certainly did not go on to become a writer as you have, Schrodinger. However I agree absolutely you have to learn the basic rules before you learn to break them. As an Arts graduate whose "works" (ie, sit down let's write a piece type deliberate work) of leisure writing are predominantly fiction, I have found non-fiction, informative essays to be far more useful in my life than fictional pieces. What a good thing they still teach them in schools.