# Why can't I use all caps for 'USMC' in a post? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 31, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920 "2013-01-31T15:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/1 "2013-01-31T15:05:41Z")
In [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15956631&postcount=55), every time I typed USMC and submitted the post, it automatically changed it to appear as ‘Usmc’. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/2 "2013-01-31T15:07:21Z")
USMC, let’s see if it does it here. Edit: Nope. Weird. HELSLDNSF JTRG, test test. Well, what the hell. Shall remain a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/3 "2013-01-31T15:34:16Z")
USMC test ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/4 "2013-01-31T15:36:48Z")
The board automatically de-capitalizes if all the letters are capitals and numbers and symbols don’t apparently count as lower-case. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/5 "2013-01-31T15:38:13Z")
The board software won’t allow an all-caps post. It also recognizes numbers as capital letters. What you needed to do was add a lower-case letter in an invisible color to your post. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/6 "2013-01-31T15:43:11Z")
Jalskf, 8484-998282 > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > The board automatically de-capitalizes if all the letters are capitals and numbers and symbols don’t apparently count as lower-case. Yep, that’s exactly what happened. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/7 "2013-01-31T15:45:27Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The board software won’t allow an all-caps post. It also recognizes numbers as capital letters. What you needed to do was add a lower-case letter in an invisible color to your post. Slight nitpick: the board software is \*configured \*to not allow all-caps posts. Something I wish they would disable so we don’t have to resort to “invisible letter” hackery. IMO, it’s a heavy-handed solution to a problem that’s likely to occur very rarely and could be handled via moderation. END OF RANT ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/8 "2013-01-31T15:47:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The board software won’t allow an all-caps post. It also recognizes numbers as capital letters. What you needed to do was add a lower-case letter in an invisible color to your post. Or you could just type more visible words than just a four-letter acronym. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/9 "2013-01-31T15:48:05Z")
U.S.M.C. ETA:Periods are not symbols. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/10 "2013-01-31T15:52:07Z")
They make acronyms goddamn ugly though. Yes, I know it’s an initialism. I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/11 "2013-01-31T18:37:38Z")
It’s only happened to me twice, and both times I “simply” hit the edit button, retyped the all-caps acronym, at it worked. Let’s see if it works when people are watching me. Here’s the first attempt. BYOB. What the hell? It stuck first time. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/12 "2013-01-31T18:42:28Z")
* * * > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > It’s only happened to me twice, and both times I “simply” hit the edit button, retyped the all-caps acronym, at it worked. Let’s see if it works when people are watching me. > Here’s the first attempt. > > BYOB. > What the hell? It stuck first time. Like\*\* silenus \*\*said..that edit is only inplace if there are no lower-case characters. Like my first post in this thread, it didn’t work because there were lower-case chars. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/13 "2013-01-31T18:43:31Z")
Testing a hunch. Bear with me. IANAL Edit: Hm. Worked again without any editing or tricks. Just plain typed it out, one time. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/14 "2013-01-31T18:47:49Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/15 "2013-01-31T19:32:34Z")
Shouldn’t that be “NM”? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/16 "2013-01-31T20:32:25Z")
N.M. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/17 "2013-02-01T01:23:29Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > IMO, it’s a heavy-handed solution to a problem that’s likely to occur very rarely and could be handled via moderation. If it needs to be handled at all. I find it hard to believe that anyone will post more than once or twice in all caps before the social pressure “fixes” this. Way too heavy-handed. And really kind of insulting if you think about it. But par for the course. The powers-that-be here have very little trust that we won’t abuse options that are available to us (see avatars, in-line images etc.). > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Or you could just type more visible words than just a four-letter acronym. Why should we have to? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/18 "2013-02-01T02:25:24Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > If it needs to be handled at all. I find it hard to believe that anyone will post more than once or twice in all caps before the social pressure “fixes” this. Way too heavy-handed. And really kind of insulting if you think about it. But par for the course. The powers-that-be here have very little trust that we won’t abuse options that are available to us (see avatars, in-line images etc.). > > Why should we have to? You make the assumption that the “powers that be” have nefarious motives behind all problems that occur in posting on the board. Did it occur to you that this is the board software default? Probably not,. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/19 "2013-02-01T02:44:06Z")
USMCx EDIT: I succeeded in doung it by placing a lowercase “x” at the end and whiting it out. You can see it if you hit Reply. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920/20 "2013-02-02T15:00:26Z")
I can see it without Reply. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-use-all-caps-for-usmc-in-a-post/648920.md?page=2)