[Boatanchors] The use of upper case letters, a reality check.

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Re Case Sensitivity. Disengage Caps Lock before shifting!

This has gone far enough, in fact 'too' far! This list is about vintage 
radio equipment, commonly known as Boat Anchors. It is not about our musings 
of yesteryear and someone's trip down memory lane, AKA "Did You Ever ...?" 
Now there is nothing wrong that I am going to object to as far as now and 
then someone shares his/her memories about a radio adventure, or 
misadventure, with the group. In point of fact, they can be most enjoyable, 
amusing and even educational. Sometimes a little diversion from the 
prescribed path is good, breaks up the mundane, lessens tensions etc. 
However, too much of anything generally results in a problem of one kind or 
another.

Sometimes, and this is one of those times, the Boat Anchor road atlas seems 
to get misplaced and the electronic traffic is not only headed in the wrong 
direction on a one way street, it is also on the wrong street and in the 
wrong city!  The list is getting too far off the map and we all need to get 
our focus back on the topic.

This nonsense about typing in upper or lower case is ridiculous. As long as 
you type in English; the font, color, case, number of characters per line, 
correct spelling, correct grammar, proper punctuation and so forth is not up 
for debate. At least not on this list, as this is not English Composition 
101! I realize that some people, and organizations, assign different 
arbitrary meanings to various symbols, use of punctuation marks for 
emphasis, inaudible tone connotations by using a bold font or underlining 
etc. Which is fine. However, on this list, I make the rules! Which are as 
follows:

Just compose as you were taught in elementary school and then polished up in 
high school with mandatory compositions. Remember those horrible things 
called "book reports" or the dreaded "essay with an outline, rough draft and 
footnotes?

Now just type your post on the computer's plastic keyboard with keys that 
wiggle, wobble and cause touch typists to babble like a Parrot who wrote 
invisible notes to Big Bird by dipping his beak in Jamaican Rum!

The subscribers on this list are remarkably bright. They can generally tell 
by the structure and wording of a sentance when the author is shouting, 
cursing profusely, smashing the plastic keyboard with a heavy blunt object 
or leaving excited little puppy puddles on the carpeting from the hiss of 
static emitted by the freshly recapped receiver on her maiden band cruise. 
They do not require words to be typed in solid upper case, tripple 
punctuation marks to signal the end of the line, blinking text in a 
different color than the main text body giving an Atlantic City Marquee 
effect(Or for some of us, a flashback to those days when psychedelic drugs 
allowed us to take a trip without ever leaving home!) or to deduce that the 
author is unhappy based on the tonal denotation of the message where you 
suggested  he could blow his brains out by blowing  his nose hard! The 
subscribers only have those more dense than Lead moments when they hear 
"Honey did you remember to take out the trash last night for the pick up 
this morning or is there a dead Skunk in the utility room?", "You are not 
going to believe this dad, but a runaway cement mixer truck ran over your 
new Corvette in the McDonalds parking lot and it can now fit between two 
really big sesame seed buns!" or "Dad if your thirteen year old daughter 
made you a grandfather by giving birth to triplets could she get an increase 
in her allowance?"

Just so you know ahead of time what the penalty is for typing with the Caps 
Lock engaged, you will be forced to read Robert Orwell's "Precepts For The 
English Language". If you thought the "Red Badge Of Courage" was long, dull 
and a sure cure for insomnia, Orwell's book could put a stone to sleep!

Duane Fischer, W8DBF







----- Original Message ----- 
From: "FRED - W4FJF" <ka2hlw at netzero.net>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 8:09 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] The use of upper case letters, a reality check.


> Hi Group,
>   The use of UPPER CASE letters does not denote SHOUTING! After watching 
> this and other lists, I see that this conception is almost universal with 
> a few selected individuals. When a ham is asking for a tube and its 
> designation may be 6SK7GTB, is he SHOUTING it into your eyeballs? Or would 
> you prefer 6sk7gtb? The distinction between upper case letters and lower 
> case letters depends upon whether you were in the military(ie, active or 
> reserve duty) or a baby boomer that never seen a day of military service. 
> In the Navy, EVERYTHING TRANSMITTED IS IN UPPER CASE LETTERS, or was until 
> recently. In amateur radio, upper case letters are used to draw your 
> attention to something important, not to SHOUT into your eyeballs. Which 
> would draw your attention more quickly, a part number 1N2006, or 1n2006? 
> I, personally, find this constant bickering about what case a person uses 
> to be unimportant, and rather childish. As this country is based on free 
> speech, who cares what case they use to pass their info on to others? 
> Also, as you will observe below, my SIGNATURE is all upper case letters as 
> I am extremely proud of being an Amateur Radio Operator for 25 years, and 
> an 11 year veteran of the NAVY MARINE CORPS MILITARY AFFILIATE RADIO 
> SYSTEM. For all you hair splitters, I am not going to change the way I 
> display my signature. There is nothing you will be able to say that will 
> change my mind. Anyone who wants to argue the point, please do so off the 
> list, so the list's bandwidth can be used for other more important issues. 
> So lets get off this shouting crap, and get into something like helping a 
> fellow amateur find a part, or get advice on fixing/restoring his 
> classic/antique radio. After all, that is what this list is for, isn't it?
>        TNX FM FRED - W4FJF/NNN0QAA REGION FOUR, 73
> AMATEUR RADIO IS A NATIONAL RESOURCE, NOT "JUST A HOBBY". NAVMARCORPSMARS 
> MEMBER,"PROUDLY SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE".
> A FOOL'S PARADISE IS A WISE MAN'S HELL.
>
> _______________________________________________
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> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> ** List Administrator - Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE **
> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
> $$ For vintage radio info, see the HCI web site $$
> http://www.w9wze.org
>
>
>
>
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