As you’re probably fully aware i do my best to never capitalize “i” unless it falls at the beginning of a sentence. I do follow the rule at work most of the time though — but on a personal level it just doesn’t feel right to indicate i am as important as a true proper noun. If we are self important why don’t we capitalize Me and We and Myself? My decision to defy the grammar rules has finally cost me some money.
I applied for a service that connects bloggers like myself to advertisers. BlogDistributor.com rejected my application and “found that it contains the following problem which must be resolved:
In order to have your Blog Certified with Blog Distributor, it must not contain misspellings. The following is a list of the misspellings that we found in your Blog: cant (2), im (4), i (54).”
Now, i take issue with considering the misuse of apostrophes and lack of capitalization “misspellings.” I am right there with them about the need to tidy up online writing. So yes, i am willing to write blog posts around specific paid topics as long as the content is mine. But no, i will not change who i am. Sorry BlogDistributor. I guess we can’t come to common ground on this one.
stacie x on 
Cena on 
Tiffany on 
August 1st, 2008 at 9:03 pm
When I see a web site or a forum post that is not properly capitalized and punctuated, including “i”, I assume that the author is too ignorant and poorly educated to know how write English properly, so I usually do not read their post, assuming that they must also not have anything intelligent to say.
Language is a set of conventions. It is because it is a set of conventions that it can be used to communicate. You can make it up your own language, but no one else will understand. When you don’t follow the conventions of English writing, your writing becomes harder to read. If you want me to read your writing, you should make it easier for me.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Karna is going to kick your ass. Um yea, Karna and Eva Mendes are coming to work you over.