i og started writing this book to prove the opinions on webspeak i always have held n to find academic precedence n linguistic explanations fr each aspect of webspeak

webspeak is obv a constantly evolving language so the stuff covered in this book is just where we r now (plus some stuff stuff i didnt have the chance to cover) but i think its rlly important that we as a collective r thinkin critically abt webspeak bc the internet is currently a primary communication method n we dont stop to consider how webspeak affects this communication

u can follow the rest of my work n see other stuff at my main site @ selinagerosa.com

ok so i promised i was gonna talk abt pet websites so here it is

it's embarrassing n fully a guilty pleasure of mine but i really love this shit lk yall remember neopets it's lk that (altho neopets has been long dead) my fave site is subeta (i have had an account for almost 8 years lol) the basic premise is like an rpg style universe where u can dress up an avatar n do various quests n whatever

anyway i have a v casual acquaintanceship w a bunch of ppl on subeta (im part of their forum group n when i remember to i like to chat in there) so i decided to make a forum post to ask ppl abt how they use web lingo

some context u probs need: -->

• my user name is fungii
• pictured is my initial post n the others r some of the responses
• forums r this rlly specific place on the web where traditional grammar style is basically mandated. i would characterize it lk a business casual email so punctuation caps and spelling r all generally used altho there is the addition of imgs n gifs n the occasional emoji or acronym

it was rlly interesting to talk abt webspeak on a forum bc of this formality where lk we were all using traditional grammar structures but talkin abt if we use lol or nah also i got to hear from ppl from a few diff age groups (i talk regularly to someone w kids) n demographics i even got to talk about how webspeak is used in different languages

something interesting to note is one of the ppl who posted asserted a fear that emojis r takin over speech (prescriptivism lmao) n when met with a bit of backlash/ two ppl who disagreed w her, she deleted her post citing her being uncomfortable. but she then sent it to me thru smail which is a private mailing system on the site. this somehow feels completely in line w the culture of forums at least on this site, where while being super willing to help once challenged erasing any evidence, lk

she’s still wanted to talk to me but didn’t want to have her opinions public

i think this rlly speaks to a sort of formalization of anonymous culture on the web where opinions r divorced from self as an instinct to avoid disagreement