WHAT A PAIN

[backupdump002]

Before I go to bed, here's something I was thinkin' about in the shower:

Internet, how often do you find someone's typing habits affecting your opinion of them? I mean, there's the obvious ones where if someone speaks in near-incomprehensible chatspeak and fangirl Japanese or whatever then you avoid them like the plague, but what about smaller things like, say, what smilies they use, or whether they type in all lowercase, or if they "roleplay" while chatting (*grins*, *laughs*, *nods*, etc), or if they keyboard mash a lot.

For example, say someone used perfect grammar and never used smilies or caps or anything like that, and everything they wrote always seemed calm and thought-out. Would you think that person was intelligent, or would you think they were arrogant or unapproachable? What if someone else were to (in essence) say the exact same things that person said, only with a less serious typing style (caps, sarcastic italics/bolding, whatever). Would you think they were smarter or easier to talk to than the other person? What other quirks have an effect on you?

I'd offer my thoughts, but I don't wanna risk coloring someone else's opinion or anything, so I'll wait :V LET ME KNOW, I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS A LOT FOR SOME REASON

Edit: Oh yeah, and what about you? Are there certain smilies you refuse to use because you feel they give off a certain impression, or anything like that? IF SO, THROW THAT IN TOO

Comments

[draco-leonis.livejournal.com]

to give a non-RP view
I have a friend who's an english major who types perfectly in AIM, and sometimes I find myself mixed between the two extremes you mentioned.

With others, it all depends on what they use or how they use it. SOMETIMES IT'S FUN TO BE DORKY/RETARDED AND JUST TYPE LIEK DIS.
But I digress, that's generally with already friends.

I dunno. I think there's a difference between first impressions online and general conversation. Like, I become a lot more formal with certain people than I do with others.

YOU'VE POSED INTERESTING QUESTIONS. More thought is required.

[doxinator.livejournal.com]

First conversations, for me, kind of depend on how the other person types. If they're all wacky then I'll be myself, but if they're the PERFECT GRAMMAR type then I tend to edit myself a lot more and sort of ease into capslock and so on. Of course, there's also times where I'll be silly no matter what and don't care what the other person thinks and if they don't like it then screw them, BUT UH MOST OF THE TIME IT'S THE FORMER