2003-03-03 16:34:13, Roozbeh Pournader <roozbeh@...> wrote:

>> (See <http://slashdot.org> for evidence of rampant subliteracy. The
>> level of literacy in the discussions differs among various news items.)
>
>I beg to differ. I don't know how you read Slashdot, but reading the
>comments only at the 5 points level I sometimes see pearls of wisdom or
>writing style. I spend about an hour a week reading those.

Imho, you are wise to read at the 5-point level. Indeed, I agree with you; I
should have made a more-balanced comment. One can, indeed, learn from [/.] as
well as find useful links (provided they haven't been "slashdotted", which is
to say temporarily overloaded by tens of thousands of curious readers.)

I read at a default level, partly from laziness, and partly from curiosity;
that level includes many specimens of an evolving "consensus" popular dialect
of English. One of these days, I'll write up my notes about its attributes,
although most of the material is not pertinent to Qalam. (A few pertinent
items: "$5 dollars", "5$", "%50", the last signifying "half", although
probably only among computer people.)

Fwiw, I almost always post anonymously, although not too often, as
"Enby in Waltham".

Just in case anyone wonders where "Slashdot" came from, call [/] a slash, and
the period/full stop a dot, then say aloud "http://slashdot.org".

Nicholas Bodley |@| Waltham, Mass.
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