I'm a recovering would-be academic.

I could say more, but doesn't that really say it all already? :-) Academics love things like grammar rules. In that world, it isn't enough just to be understood (at least if you are studying literature). You have to be snobbishly correct, right? Because precision matters, when you're writing in a context of academics who are pursuing knowledge about writing, and English, basically all the time.

That being said, if a person uses a hyphen or an en dash when they should use an em, the only people who are going to really notice will be copyeditors. And I guess the assistant professors. To readers they are all dashes and, technical requirements for length aside, their meaning is clear through context. Hyphen - dash joining two words. It's clear when a dash is used for compounding; typically there's no spaces between it and the two words on either side. En dash - signifies a range. Again, it's pretty clear when I say "I went to school September-May," that of course I'm not compounding, nor am I breaking away from one thought to interject another, but I'm describing a range.

For me it's more fun to discuss the technical definitions and which one should be used when - as a sort of research and check-your-skills challenge - than it is an actual exercise in correctness. After all, I had to look them up to know the answer to the above question. Gun to my head on the spot I could've guessed but not been sure.

For me it is more like knowing that the thing on the end of your shoelace is called an aglet or that redd is a verb. This is useless knowledge 99% of the time. In essence, all it is is one particular flavor of trivia - but one I enjoy most!

I save the bitching about web design for the people who prioritize web design - who can't not see bad design when they look at a site. And everyone knows comment sections are worthless so who bothers with those?

;)