Hypothetically, if there existed a forum member for whom English was not her native typing language, should she be under the same grammatic/spelling scrutiny? In certain areas of real life, this is often the case with hilarious results. I once got banned from a Japanese forum for copy/pasting random characters from other sites. My intent was honest communication, but my will to put real effort into it was lacking.
Hypothetically, if there existed a forum member for whom English was not her native typing language, should she be under the same grammatic/spelling scrutiny?
They are, and we have them. E.H.R.Z.(Erwin), Persiflage(makushimirian), and I LOST COUNT(Nineless) are all non-native English speakers and have much better grammar and writing skills than all the native speakers that end up banned. It's about effort a lot more than it is about being native to the language.
I was born in Russia, and the first language I learned was Russian. However, there is a distinction between native typing language and native language, since I would say that my native (spoken) language would be Russian (though I'm better with English), whereas my native typing language is English. With reading and writing I can't really say which one is my native language anyway - I think I learned some Russian first, but I wouldn't say that I "fully" learned to read Russian, and I can write it only in theory.
In any case, Sail, you're ignoring the mention of hilarity, which is always a mistake.
I once got banned from a Japanese forum for copy/pasting random characters from other sites. My intent was honest communication, but my will to put real effort into it was lacking.
In an IRC channel years ago, some guys were speaking Swedish to each other, so I randomly copied and pasted some words, and they started cracking up. They wouldn't tell me what it said, so I went to #swedish and asked. Apparently, it was "It's me with the summerhouse if you dare."
Comments
In any case, Sail, you're ignoring the mention of hilarity, which is always a mistake.