And here is part of the problem. Spelling is not very hard, especially when you have a spell checker to do it for you. And if you don't know how to use it, there's always dictionary.com.

There are some important things that need capitalized. One is the first word of a sentence. I'll let ya slide on not capitalizing 'i' every time - hey, sometimes you just miss the shift key & don't realize it - but you have to at least try.

The problem is when you cut so many corners that your speech or point doesn't make sense. Every once in awhile your eyes need a break. That's the whole point behind short sentences, capital letters, and paragraphs. You're right, kids these days are just way too lazy when it comes to typing, but it also makes them look like idiots when somebody tries to read what they wrote.

I didn't realize it until my senior year in highschool, but my aim-speak was sliding its way into my school papers. One of my teachers would circle every occurance of somebody saying 'u' instead of 'you'. I got one paper back that had this happen almost 10 times. That's when I realized my bad habits were coming out in everything I wrote, not just my IMs.

So, going along with your points, is it important for me to use correct grammar on a web forum? No. Is it important for me to use proper sentence structure? No. Do I have to use capital letters, correct spelling, and all that other nonsense we learned in English class? Not at all. But when I realize that my poor online habits are soiling my work, it sures seems alot easier to take the extra 10 seconds to put out the extra effort in everything, rather than 10 hours trying to compensate for screwing up the important things.