have sum respect 4 ur readers

What’s with the all people mixing up “their”/“they’re”/“there”? Or “lose”/“loose”? There’s a number of other similar peeves; you get the idea. I mean seriously; it can’t be that hard. Just try a little.

What I really can’t understand is how people can even consider using abbreviations like “u”, “ur”, “r u” etc. I can see it for cellphone text messaging maybe, where space is limited and text entry is awkward. But otherwise? When I or others say that I/they consider people writing that way to be either stupid or stupidly hip, I’ve all too frequently heard a response saying that I/they were arrogant, elitist, or any number of things along these lines.

I find people have lost any understanding for the concepts of courtesy and respect. You do not have a right to someone’s attention, whether you want to talk to them or not. Using abominations like “ur” actively makes a message harder to read; those using them can’t be very interested in their message being read and understood. Why else would they discourage their reader(s) by being thoughtless and disrespectful of them?

On the other hand, saving two or three letters on words that were short to begin with seems to be of the essence. Obviously, those using them are interested in efficiency in writing because have a lot of talking to get done. Why then, if it is more important for someone to talk than it is to be heard, should I waste my time reading their banter? It has already fulfilled its purpose the instant they wrote it, long before I was even made aware of its existence.

I can’t help but be reminded of the old adage that wise men talk when they have something to say, while fools talk when they have to say something.

Don't insult your readers if you want them to hear you out. Think of others, instead of being too busy to stop just a second to consider how your actions will be received. Just spend a moment outside MTV attention deficit mode for once.