

Real geeks die early - norbu09
http://norbu09.org/2010/05/05/every-once-in-a-while.html

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dca
Apparently so do their shift keys.

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jmtame
does it bother you that people don't capitalize properly in their personal
blogs? i never understood that. i read through it just fine.

i know it's proper, but i guess i'm kind of lazy in that way. in the words of
christopher walken: "i never liked capitalization. it felt like more of an
imposition."

~~~
pg
th prblm s nt tht ts mprpr, bt tht yr gvng th rdr lss nfrmtn

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jmtame
if acronyms and proper names were capitalized, we'd have everything covered?
punctuation already signals the end of a sentence.

i could read and comprehend what you said in your example, but it required
more mental effort. i don't think reading a blog without caps requires more
mental effort, but if it does to most people, then i might have to switch
back.

~~~
pg
Only 1/3 of the periods in e.g. this sentence signal the end of it.

~~~
jmtame
i believe the correct grammatical use of "e.g." uses commas anyway, in which
case i would have easily understood the example without caps:

only 1/3 of the periods in, e.g., this sentence, signal the end of it.

~~~
pg
No, whether you want commas depends on the sentence. Most good writers
wouldn't punctuate that sentence as you did. Too halting for such a short
sentence.

But this is not the point here, is it? The point is that any abbreviation with
periods in it could appear in the middle of a sentence.

~~~
jmtame
i don't think i'd use it that way either. i did a quick google search to check
and the first thing that came up was this:
[http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/abbreviations/f/ievseg.ht...](http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/abbreviations/f/ievseg.htm)

i can only think of three exceptions where you'd need capitalization for
additional information: acronyms, proper names, and abbreviations.

i've been doing this as a test since may 13, 2009. i've never run into the
problem of a misunderstanding before due to lowercase and i usually write this
way in all casual written forms of communication (email, sms texting, blogs,
comments). i originally picked it up from a designer i admired back in 2008,
and the habit kind of stuck after trying it.

~~~
nollidge
But it's not about misunderstanding. We've all been on the Internet long
enough to be able to slog through 1337speak and poor spelling and grammar, if
we have to, with probably 99% understanding. However, _it takes longer_. As it
is with capitalization--it doesn't _prevent_ overall understanding, but it
does slow it down, at least a little.

That said, maybe that's acceptable to you. Maybe you're going for a certain
aesthetic.

~~~
jmtame
the point pg made, which i was responding to, was: "it's not about being
improper, it's that you're giving the reader less information," so i was
addressing that.

the original point was "does it slow you down to read this blog because there
are no caps?" i don't know whether a majority of people read lowercase slower
--nobody has mentioned it since i started doing it a year ago. i personally
have no problems with it; i'm not doing stuff like omitting vowels (an extreme
example to make a point, imo). i'm just skipping over the shift key.

it's not about aesthetics in my case. more about laziness in typing, and i
don't want to do something just because "that's the way it's always been
done."

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param
I am making a transition from being a developer to a manager these days. I
consider myself a passionate developer, and hence I never thought twice about
spending time beyond 9-5 and getting a job done (as it made me happy). Now
that I am a manager, I am working with multiple resources, some of which like
to work for work's sake, some are good resources that will only work 9-5, and
some losers that won't get a good job done at all.

Could someone explain how they manage people who won't

a)estimate right when given the chance,

b) understand the criticality of the deadlines,

c) put in a fair 40 hr/week if the deadline is still a month away (i.e. start
missing internal milestones from day one),

d) not escalate/be concerned unless you probe them etc?

~~~
seiji
> I am working with multiple resources,

First step: stop calling people "resources"

~~~
param
heh, sure. I see how my comment is coming off as bitchy and is being
downmodded. However, I am genuinely curious. There are people in my team that
are currently just working 9-5. There is one guy who is working nights and
weekends because he likes it, and then there is one guy that's working
(productivity wise) 25-30 hrs a week while missing internal milestones.

Its frustrating to be in my place, because I feel sad for the nightouter when
he picks up for the third guy

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potatolicious
> _"because I feel sad for the nightouter when he picks up for the third guy"_

Why not talk to the night-coder? The best bosses I have ever had were the ones
who actively told me to _work less_. It's so rare to hear that in our industry
that you may just earn yourself some real loyalty.

[edit] To clarify: the guy not pulling his weight is IMHO a separate issue
from the guy who works at night. If the guy not pulling his weight is forcing
other people to work more though, by all means don't let that happen. Then you
have two problems on your hands instead of one.

~~~
param
Ah, thank you. Now I feel we are on the same page. The nightcoder- talking to
him is something I was not considering so far, but now am.

Could we also talk a bit more about the problem I was trying to get around to
- how do you solve the second problem? How do I 'by all means don't let that
happen'?

------
Tamerlin
Why has it taken so long for developers to figure this out?

