literacy issue or typing?
 

Another problem with judging someone's literacy from their online posts is factoring their typing ability. I write some of the most proper British or American English technical manuals, short stories and poetry. But I am not a good typist. Sometimes my fingers are almost dyslexic and my laptop's keyboard is drastically different from the one I spend hours using at work.
Professional proof readers know that the hardest writing to proof read is that which you have written with your own hand and mind. Ergo, grammar and spelling may be completely corrupted by one's keyboarding skills. :cool:

I have a theory about that:

Anime-culture in America attracts a lot of people aged 10-14. For older people, they sometimes see grammatical errors in the manga they read ("engrish") and so have no problem with making errors of their own; if [manga writer/animator x]-sensei-sama can get away with buggering the English language, surely they can, too?

More like an hypothesis, since I don't really have anything to back that all up with, but that's sure how it seems to me :P .

Type AS IF they're illiterate, if you don't mind. No one is safe from language.

most people have good grammar, but choose not to use it thats just the way people are.... me included :marusmile:

I do not accept bad English from my side even though it's not my first language.
Now that i know that my spelling/writing are good enough, i'm working on my speech so that i can present myself in a proper way.

I have been known to be rather famous as a grammar Nazi... in particular I find incorrect usage of your and you're irritating. My English is not perfect, but I make my best effort to write to the best of my ability, because I'm considering teaching it for a while.

"Your stupid!"
"My stupid what..?"

lol gotta agree with you there.

I hate that too...

your and you're are so gay to mix.

lol Yeah. You get it in the <he's/his> version as well =)

What about "I have the coolest friends, there awesome" xD!

Or "I have to right an essay on WWII" :O

And there're tones of others that are usually misspelled: mourning, possable, capitol; to name a few xD!

Tones is actually spelt 'tons' xDDD

I get annoyed by where/were, there/their aswell. >.<