# People Who Capitalize Every Word In Forum Posts **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895 "2008-10-14T16:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dripping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dripping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dripping)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/1 "2008-10-14T16:31:17Z")
There Is This Middle-Aged Woman On Another Forum I’m A Member Of, Who, For Some Stupid Reason, Insists On Capitalizing Every Word In Her Posts. She Gets Angry And Defensive When Asked Why She Does This And/Or Is Asked To Stop. Then She Keeps Doing It. Why??? It’s So Much Work To Capitalize Every Word. I Am Tired Just From Typing This Short Post That Way… WTF Do People Do This? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/2 "2008-10-14T16:33:12Z")
I know that some forum software takes all-caps posts and converts them into initial caps, so it’s possible that she’s got the caps lock on all the time and doesn’t understand why her posts are showing up like they do. Of course, that raises the question of why she’s typing in all caps in the first place, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/3 "2008-10-14T16:34:01Z")
I’m Not Really Sure, But It’s Rather Annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/4 "2008-10-14T16:34:37Z")
For The Record, WTF Is Generally Agreed To Mean “What The Fuck”, Not “Why The Fuck”. Maybe there’s a hidden message. Have you tried reading just the capitalized letters and seeing if they spell “HELP ME” or something? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/5 "2008-10-14T16:40:20Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I know that some forum software takes all-caps posts and converts them into initial caps, so it’s possible that she’s got the caps lock on all the time and doesn’t understand why her posts are showing up like they do. Of course, that raises the question of why she’s typing in all caps in the first place, I suppose. I second this. Many of our elderly customers send emails in allcaps. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/6 "2008-10-14T16:41:54Z")
> [@Dripping](#): > > There Is This Middle-Aged Woman On Another Forum I’m A Member Of, Who, For Some Stupid Reason, Insists On Capitalizing Every Word In Her Posts. She Gets Angry And Defensive When Asked Why She Does This And/Or Is Asked To Stop. Then She Keeps Doing It. > > Why??? It’s So Much Work To Capitalize Every Word. > > I Am Tired Just From Typing This Short Post That Way… > > WTF Do People Do This? Oh my, I think I know who you are talking about. :eek: The person who I am thinking of claims she does it because she “Thinks It Makes Her Posts Interesting and Different.” I am shocked her shift key hasn’t snapped and beaten her to death yet… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/7 "2008-10-14T16:42:58Z")
I just typed this with the caps lock on and look what happened. But you can still SHOUT in the middle of a post. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/8 "2008-10-14T17:10:27Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > i just typed this with the caps lock on and look what happened. > > But you can still shout in the middle of a post. iF YOU EDIT YOUR POST AFTERWARDS, YOU CAN MAKE IT GO BACK TO CAPS. Just not the very first letter, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/9 "2008-10-14T17:11:35Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > The person who I am thinking of claims she does it because she “Thinks It Makes Her Posts Interesting and Different.” Building Interest Too Excessively Makes Your Capitals Really Annoying, No Kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/10 "2008-10-14T17:12:13Z")
[noparse]i wonder if noparse helps[/noparse] nO ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/11 "2008-10-14T18:37:35Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I know that some forum software takes all-caps posts and converts them into initial caps Applying initial caps to the first word in the sentence makes sense, but doing it to every word is a pretty dumb feature. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/12 "2008-10-14T18:40:27Z")
I’ve mentioned this before, but on other message boards, I found that users from India type entirely in lowercase. They may capitalize a word here and there, but they’re not proper nouns or words at the beginning of a sentence. “hello i am the sanjit will you Help me with my homework?” ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/13 "2008-10-14T18:48:30Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Building Interest Too Excessively Makes Your Capitals Really Annoying, No Kidding. I thought I was supposed to snort it? Smoke it maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/14 "2008-10-14T19:01:43Z")
I have a bad habit and I have no idea why I do it, even though I know it’s grammatically incorrect - I find myself sometimes capitalizing a word in a sentence that seems important. For example: “The Candidates will address each other at the Debate this week.” Generally, I catch myself and edit accordingly, but still … Doesn’t the German langauge do that somehow someway? I like to think I picked it up from the root and I’m not just a noodge. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/15 "2008-10-14T19:06:05Z")
if you eschew capitals and punctuation it gives your posts a gentle otherworldly vibe. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/16 "2008-10-14T19:26:32Z")
Sometimes you wonder what people think this does for their posts, to capitalize every first letter. If we could just understand… On second thought, nah… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/17 "2008-10-14T19:39:31Z")
Have we run out of assholes on this board, that we have to start pitting people on other boards? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/18 "2008-10-14T19:45:51Z")
> [@Dripping](#): > > I Am Tired Just From Typing This Short Post That Way… There’s A Quick Way Of Capitalizing The First Letters Of All The Words In A Paragraph If You Own Microsoft Word. Type Your Paragraph Into Word. Select It All, Go To Format-\>Change Case. Click On ‘Title Case’ ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/19 "2008-10-14T19:46:56Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Have we run out of assholes on this board, that we have to start pitting people on other boards? No, I’m still here. ---
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895/20 "2008-10-14T19:56:53Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Doesn’t the German langauge do that somehow someway? I like to think I picked it up from the root and I’m not just a noodge. Yeah, all nouns are capitalized in German. I don’t actually remember if the rule is that simple, but I believe so. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-capitalize-every-word-in-forum-posts/467895.md?page=2)