So fuck off if you misconstrue a properly placed bit of punctuation.
Wherever possible, I try to do the same. I understand it can be difficult with text messages quickly hammered out on a less than ideal interface, but I still can't shake the thought that refusal to at least properly capitalize is at the very least lazy. Although, I do find that as the years go by, I generally ignore these things if I'm already familiar with the person I'm communicating with, their habits, and typing behavior. Alarms only go off for me if their typing habits change dramatically (capitalizing where they normally didn't), because it means that they're on a different device than they normally use or because something else is going on.
Although I do find one thing of particular amusement. A friend of mine IMs me with proper punctuation and capitalization only when he's on his iDevice and not at a keyboard. So I have to wonder if sometimes the opposite of TFA's argument is applicable...
You aren't writing a book; you're talking to someone. IMing in completely perfect sentences does give an air of distance.
There's something to be said about taking the written word at face value and trying not to read into it much. I suspect the latter is because, without verbal cues or body language present, the human brain requires addition input to read the emotional state of the writer. Without that, it examines things that are probably incidental and meaningless but certainly not without consequence.
We at HN are probably not the most emotionally connected anyways, so there's going to be a huge gap between the average HN experience/opinion on this topic vs. the general population.
This is probably quite true, particularly for those of us who are of the INTx MBTIs.
That said, my sarcasm was an attempt to illustrate the silly nature of this entire debate. Although I do agree with the OP (insofar as I can't help myself from feeling lax capitalization and punctuation is lazy), I also can't help but feel that getting worked up over punctuation is rather stupid.
We're probably in agreement to that end, though.
First impressions are important to humans. "y ru not here" will be judged very differently from "Just wanted to make sure you're still able to come."
Context is extremely important in non-verbal, text communication. You are only harming yourself and your relationships with others by employing such attitude.