This will be a quick one, as I have a plane to catch, but I couldn’t resist blogging this:  Tips For Not Appearing Crazy on the Internet. Excerpt:

Do crazy people have a right to be heard? I think they do — as long as they’re American. But even with crazy people’s well known infiltration of the internet — appearing in any blog or news comments section or online forum they can access — they still have a lot of trouble getting people to listen to them.

In a recent column, I touched on the topic of conspiracy theories, which of course brought in lots of crazy people to the comments section. As I looked through the responses, I noticed how easy it was to scan them or just read the first sentence and say, “Well, this one is a crazy person.” And lots of people scan like this, because crazy people have this habit of self-identifying on the internet that allows sane people to skip over what they have to say before even getting to the crazy point. Thus crazy people never even get heard.

The advent of the internet should be a Renaissance for crazy. Crazy people used to have to try to spread their views through poorly photocopied newsletters with weird font choices that no sane person would read. But on the internet, crazy people can put their opinions right next to those of sane people. If they can just use a little self-discipline to not immediately identify themselves as cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, they might actually get their ideas read.

Now, I’m not going to try to tell people how not to be crazy anymore.

The author lists some of my own pet peeves:  CAPS LOCK, the stupid, lazy-ass use of “u” for “you,” and so on.  An entertaining read.

Off to the airport, True Believers!  More as events warrant.