Oh, grammar bugs me sometimes too, but this is not even grammar. This is an issue of typography. It's not even an accidental error that the writer is arguing, but a systematized conceptual error rooted in what is by and large, a quirk of outmoded technology. From my perspective, dude is making a mountain out of a molehill because people haven't changed as quickly as he thinks they should because books exist that inform people of the current convention, a convention which no on else seems to place any sort of emphasis on. I'm not at all an advocate for bullying of any stripe, and certainly not of child abuse, but I firmly believe that some people should have gotten their asses kicked more (or even just once, perhaps badly) as children. Now, had the article been framed more along the lines of, "hey, I'm a huge typography nerd and as such, I wonder if my readers were aware of the convention around spaces after periods or full stops? Here's an interesting story of how the convention was arrived at, blah blah blah, here are some other interesting facts about typography, etc." then, cool. Maybe I'm just getting tired of the near-mandatory superiority and snark of internet articles, but a high and mighty article about typography is apparently where I draw the line. To the writer, I say, "No, nerd of the obscure. Lick my nuts and do it well since you're so concerned with details, period, space, space.
Aw, man, I just figured out why I thought I'd read this article before. The publication date on this link through me off, despite the note about Assange at the end. I had. I suppose it is his perspective, or the "voice" he is using to draw readers - come to me, enraged English majors! Your greivances are not unheard! . I read the makeup article. He seems like an interesting - perhaps offbeat - sort of person. I agree it's not a big deal. Mom's a confirmed two-spacer and I'm a one-spacer, mainly because I never found it conducive to my "groove" to hit the space bar twice in a row after a sentence. You did forget an end quote, though :)
After I read this, I gave the one space thing a try. I think it would take a while to get used to, as two spaces is almost a reflex at this point. Perhaps those many hundreds of thousands of double spaces over the years have contributed to my legendary thumb-wrestling abilities. As for that end quote, maybe I'm not done yet! And anyway, ahem . . . and :) I get that people demand a certain standard of written English and that's fine, but with the internet it almost seems compulsive. I think this is odd, since creating text is nearly as natural as speaking for a great many people. People who have distinct speech patterns and often use regional (and social) variations of English that do not conform to the standard. For me, as long as spelling is correct(ish) and the grammar isn't interfering with meaning, I'm usually fine with it. A formal piece of writing is a different matter, but most of the writing (or typing, I guess) isn't formal. And of course, with formal writing there is typically an editing process to ensure that standards are followed, so all that outrage and venting about people writing "properly" on the internet seems so very silly and masturbatory.The publication date on this link through me off
Your greivances are not unheard!