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PLEASE STOP USING ALL CAPS!

THIS QUALIFIES AS A RANT.

I SEE THIS PRACTICE ALL THE TIME, AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE.

YOU'VE SEEN IT TOO... AN MLS OR REALTOR.COM LISTING, A POST OR A DESCRIPTION IN A REAL ESTATE SHOW, AND THE ENTIRE TEXT IS IN CAPS.... LIKE THIS. HELLO? THIS SEEMS SO BASIC TO ME.

IT'S OBVIOUSLY NOT BASIC. I JUST FINISHED VIEWING A SHOW WITH A DESCRIPTION JUST LIKE THIS AND IT SENT ME OVER THE EDGE... AND THERE WERE NO PARAGRAPH BREAKS. THE STARTLING PART WAS THAT IT WAS PRODUCED BY A VERY GOOD REALTOR WHO OTHERWISE CREATES EXCELLENT SHOWS. SHE IS NOT ALONE. THIS HAPPENS WAY TOO OFTEN.

WHY? ARE PEOPLE COPYING AND PASTING FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE THAT AUTOMATICALLY PUTS EVERY WORD IN CAPS? ARE CAPS AND USING ARCHAIC ABBREVIATIONS A HOLDOVER FROM THE MLS?

WHATEVER THE REASON... PLEASE STOP. YOU'RE KILLING YOUR READERS. AND ME.

Posted by Jeff Turner on 07/30/2007 09:21 AM

Comments (85)

listings, internet marketing, virtual tours, sales, real estate, real estate shows, realtor, marketing, jeff turner

Originally posted at: Turner's Perspective: PLEASE STOP USING ALL CAPS!

Post is included in group: The Hubba Clubba...ROAR!

85 Comments on PLEASE STOP USING ALL CAPS!

JUL

2007

Hey Jeff, nice rant. :) All italics are annoying too. Thanks for posting this..I hope they add it to the Community Resources page.

OK JEFF, I WILL TRY AND REFRAIN FROM USING ALL CAPS. COULD YOU POSSIBLY TELL ME WHERE THE CAPS BUTTON IS ON MY PC? I THINK MY DAUGHTER TURNED IT ON AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TURN IT OFF.

Stephanie... thank you.

George... you're PC may not have a way to turn it off. I suggest buying a Mac. :)

im convinced no more caps and im doing away with those annoying punctuation marks while im at it i think ill do away with paragraph breaks that stuff is so annoying and unnecessary e e cummings lives man i mean what im saying is so important that people owe it to me to read it and comment on it and read to the very end even if it seems like the end will never come but i got that all caps thing licked next on the agenda is eliminating spel chek hav a nic day

Anyway, yes, all caps drives me nuts!

One of the better rants around!

JEFF, MAYBE THE REALTORS AGENT MADE THE ADD AND THE AGENT FORGOT TO PROOF IT. OOOPS, MY CAPS BUTTON IS ON, OH DEAR. SO SORRY JEFF, HOPE THAT DIDN'T SEND YOU OVER THE EDGE ;0)

Thanks Jeff I think it maybe that they don't know how to use the shift key.

Hi Jeff, this has always been one of my pet peeves. I hate to say it, but to me it's a sign of the uneducated. Common sense is no longer common.

JEFF:

GREAT POST. THIS ANNOYS ME TOO. I REMEMBER IN THE EARLY AGES OF CHAT ROOMS THERE WERE ETIQUETTE GUIDELINES. THEY CALLED THE USE OF ALL CAPS -SHOUTING.

ANYWAY, I ALWAYS MAKE A CONSCIOUS EFFORT NOT TO SHOUT.

Jeff, Great Post. It does drive me crazy as well.

All... it seems to drive everyone crazy but the people who do it.

????? This seems to be a problem for most. I don't know why but it really doesn't bother me. What does though is when the directions are wrong and you go West when you should have gone East etc.

my caps lock is busted.

is it okay like this?

Donna... It's just harder to read in all caps. There is less differentiation in the letters, so reading the same sentence in all CAPS just takes longer. It also takes up more space, so the same number of words appears longer. This adds up when there is a lot of text. And, yes, getting the wrong directions would piss me off even more. :)

Fred... I suppose that's OK.

I get emails a lot that have the first letting in lower case and the rest of the sentence in caps. So it seems that they don't intead to do all caps...they just never check what they write before sending!

Ravi... now, that is funny!

Good Morning Jeff-

It's that old lack of common sense cropping up again!

I'm sure it's the same group of intellectuals who are incapable of using the spell-check.

You don't really expect them to THINK, do you?

Marc... yes, I do. :)

Jeff - It takes SO much longer to read !!!! I was getting a little peeved when I started reading your post (I missed the title, haha).

I try to be diligent about capitalization, except I know I'm bad when I'm on my Mobile PC, I tend to NOT cap when it doesn't do it automatically (like "I")

Thanks - I hope your post helps!!!!!

Kim... I hope so too! I'd rather see no caps than all caps.

We are not all from the same back ground. Has anyone posted style guidelines? So we know when we are SHOUTING!

RANT ON!!! Maybe the idea is to yell about the listing, in hopes more will listen??

I don't like reading all caps, I think the writer is yelling. I have a very dear friend who does this all the time and it drove me crazy. Finally I explained that all caps is hard to read and it was like shouting. He said he never heard this before but he did stop.

All the yelling here is giving me a headache ...

I once had a Realtor (before I was one) who put my house description in all caps. I told her to change it, I said that's considered rude, it's yelling. She said it was a proven way to get attention. I refused to back down and she changed mine, but she kept doing the rest that way. :oP

Rules, rules and more rules! I made the mistake of using all caps once and I guarantee you that I won't ever do it again. People sure were quick to point out that mistake but not so quick to leave a comment about the actual content. Sorry it bugs you so much but I do understand. I have my pet peaves too.

Tim... there are lots of posts on AR regarding "style" in terms of making your posts look good.

Paula... I don't rant often, but this is one that just makes no sense to me.

Tracey... :)

Sarah... Caps only get attention when they are used SPARINGLY! But you knew that already. Sorry your agent didn't.

Donna... it's not just me. We all want to create less cognitive dissidence in what we do. ALL CAPS is a needless distraction.

Jeff, it truly is enough to send me over the edge with you! I can just imagine when you see it being used on your production that you are, rightfully, very proud of!

AMEN!! They do it on CraigsList too. I hate all caps in titles, paragraphs, etc.

Actually, according to typing etiquette, all caps are the equivalent of someone yelling at you through the entire message. If you are not a rage-aholic then please take Jeff's advice...use your inside voice! I worked for the Sheriff's Dept. for five years as a jailer and we were instructed to write everything in caps when we wrote any kind of report. I think it was to help all the lazy people who didn't know when to capitalize letters. As a highly educated individual (hold the applause please) I thought it was extremely demeaning...lol!

You tell 'em Jeff! Ihope you are enjoying your summer. Looking forward to seeing you at the next AR gathering.

WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT US??

hehehehe

Perhaps using all caps is a way to get attention. Unfortunately, it is usually going to be negative attention. Maybe they think negative attention is better than none at all.

Hard to read. No question about it. I will occassionally see a post that looks interesting but I can't read it because it's 250 lines long all in one paragraph.

I quickly copy and past in my e-mail draft page and separate some paragraphs so I can read the dang thing.

Lenn, I give you credit. I wouldn't be bothered doing that!

Jeff - a great bust! I'm so glad you brought this up. I have started flagging posts that I know are copied and reposted clearly just to get points. I work hard at thinking of new content to share and expect to see the same.

ok ... I'LL TRY

Lenn...

I'm disappointed...I thought we were more alike... when I see all CAPS I rate it a 1 and move on with a "wtf??" proclamation! :)

(drives me nuts, too!) ISN'T THIS THE ONLINE VERSION OF YELLING?

PLEASE NO MORE YELLING!!!!! My ears are working just fine, THANKS!!

I totally agree with you!

~Myra

Nice rant! I share your rant. To me... it is so darn hard to read. They authors usually loose me a few words in.

Whenever I turn in my listing at the office they transfer it into the MLS....all in capitol letters. I guess that's the way they have always done it and will continue to do so. Who am I to complain!

Jeff, our MLS requires our remarks to be in caps. So sometimes it is easier to just copy and paste the remarks we already used. I don't think I have done that in any shows but I'll go check. Regardless, it is a MLS rule here. Weird huh ? But, we're use to it.

What ever you say cap-tain. :P

I agree!

(hey read my last post and see if you can answer that question.... please)

OK this post was funny, but the replies in your post ... WERE EVEN FUNNIER!! Does that count as all caps?

I can remember a time when the underwriters (on the mortgage side) would REQUIRE the application to be in ALL CAPS. So as a habit sometimes I would be multi tasking still in caps.

GOOD POST! :o)

Jeff -

I agree! When I see all caps in my email I automatically DELETE it... NO IF'S AND'S OR BUTS (sorry 'bout that, I got carried away)...

JUL

2007

Hilarious post! And you're so right. CAPS ARE ANNOYING!!! SHOULD I SAY IT LOUDER? OH YEAH, AND DOES THIS THINF EVEN SPELL CHECK CAPS? I SEE SOMAMY TYPOS WHEN STUFF IDON CAPS. lol!

Ok... I had to go check my shows - I was afraid you were talking about me.... I hate the cap key - and it drives me crazy to see all caps and it is difficult to read

Thesa... the only talking about you I'd be doing would be praise.

Missy... seriously? What is up with that?

Everyone... I'm glad we all agree. Perhaps we should form a coalition and take aim at the MLS systems that require ALL CAPS!

Take aim at the MLS???

Are you kidding??? O.K. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you can move mountains. So, while you're at it:

Stop listing agents putting their phone number, e-mail address, web site address in the remarks against the rules.

Stop listing agents putting Open House ads in the remarks, also against the rules.

Require agents to change status when they get an accepted contract.

Require agents to enter listings in the MLS BEFORE holding open house all weekends.

Things are not as bad as they were in 2005-2006. But, I've given up trying to get our MLS to enforce ANY rules.

[SVW HUBBA].....

I AM VERY COMPETITIVE AND I WANT EVERYONE TO NOTICE ME. FOR SOME SILLY REASON I BELIEVE THAT USING ALL CAPS DRAWS ATTENTION TO ME...ME...ME. I WANT TO DOMINATE. THE ONLY WAY THAT CAN HAPPEN, AT LEAST IN MY LITTLE HEAD, IS IF I USE ALL CAPS. THIS MAKES ME FEEL "POWERFUL" NOT ONLY THAT BUT I HAVE MISGUIDINGLY CONVINCED MYSELF THAT THIS IS IN FACT THE BEST WAY FORWARD.

PLEASE NOTICE ME...PLEASE NOTICE ME...PLEASE NOTICE ME...OH. I KNOW I CAN BOLD IT ALL TOO.

LAUGH OUT LOUD...YEAH! MY JOB IS DONE HERE :)

TLW...ROAR!

It is part of my marketing plan. I tell my sellers it helps get their listing noticed. Now what am I going to do?

AMEN to that! Now, if only we could get the people who do this to read your blog!

You lost me at STOP.

Rarely do I read an ALL CAP post, but I've learned to trust you!

Nice Rant!! Being new to this blogging and internet thing, I never new there were rules for caps, an employee of mine told me that all caps meant shouting? is this true? I never write in all caps, even if I am shouting.. lol

JEFF!!! Now that I caught your attention. (Woh, it's like calling my kids to the dinner table. KIIDDSSS!!)

LOL.. You started something here.

TLW - ROFL. I was going there but you beat me to it. Good job. Carnac might have to revisit the subject.

Jeff,

I am a firm believer in not using the caps. I think only once in awhile for 1 or 2 words just for the effect or the power of the meaning for that word in certain context.

"Just Say No" to CAPS!

AUG

2007

:) For Carnac

TLW[SVW]... well, in the middle of a string of comments where no one else has done it, it certainly works. :)

AUG

2007

This is an excellent post. Caps should be used only to make a point. Yes, the attention is gotten, but then the reader is distracted from the other points that should be made.

ARGH!! I hate it when people use caps.....especially in normal email/instant messaging communications!!

Caps dont bother me.. but I will try not to.

AUG

2007

Jeff,

If the small things in life get you this riled up? I can only imagine how the bigger ones make you. But, after reading all the response post, I see that alot of other people have this pet peeve. I will be more aware of it now.

Stacey... God is in the details. :)

AUG

2007

Amen!! I have been so turned off by so many blogs written in all caps and in italics, but the all caps bugs me the most. I feel like I'm being yelled at. Thank you so much for bringing this topic to light!

SEP

2007

The theory applies to signs and sign riders, too. Many agents have their names in all caps - even though studies show that it's more readable if the first letters are capitalized and the remaining letters are small.

Jim and Maria... my pleasure.

Sharon... I agree. And studies prove this true over and over again.

Sharon that works most of the time...I wonder what the study says about names like mine DeGroff?! It drives me crazy when my kids do not use the capital G.

SEP

2007

Jeff - This is so accurate. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. It seems much worse when you combine all caps with poor spelling and poor grammar.

I've noticed this ALL CAPS thing with agents, as well. I believe it's a hold-over from the old intranet-style MLSs where the only way to post listings was in ALL CAPS (remember those days?). My observation has been that it's mostly "seasoned" agents that commit this internet faux pas.

PETER - YOU CALLING ME OLD YOU LITTLE WHIPPERSNAPPER????

Hey Jeff. I've seen this happening more and more. Craigslist ads (the headlines at least) are practically written in all caps (in my area). So I'm keeping it short and simple and standing out by not putting my headlines all in caps. A typical ad would read $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$HANDYMAN SPECIAL$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (with so many of those it doesn't attract readers) vs. my post - handyman special - It's so small compared to the other ads that I've found that I get more hits (redirects to my site) from keeping it simple.

i Believe That Many People Use All Caps Because That Precludes Having To Possess A Knowledge Of Which Words Should Actually Be Capitalized.

Thank you for saying what many of us are thinking and not saying. Big hug to beautiful Rocky. You're a very lucky man.

SEP

2007

Jeff has officially busted a caps on our a@$es.

RE/MAX Allegiance has a listserve for its' 1600+ agents. Yup, there are people on there who think their post gets more attention if it is in caps and do it regularly. I am not so sure it is rudeness as much as it is not knowing what is proper writing etiquette.

Karen

LOL Nice post. If something is all in CAPS, I don't bother to read it...normally.

You can thank Carnac that I got through this one 8^) .

I thank Carnac for many things!

I heard that.

Of course you did!

I have to laugh. Today for the first time I published a vflyer. This has taken a while seeing that I am technically challenged. I sent it out in all caps. Whoops! Thanks for the advice. I am on this huge learning curve and I am alright with that. I would rather be told what is expected. This is what is so great about Active rain.

I have now signed up for res shows. We'll see how long that takes!

SEP

2007

How about all the caps that are used in all the documents coming out of our nations law offices. I just got through reading a 72 page CC&R document for a new subdivision and there were at least a dozen different 1-2 page sections ALL IN CAPS. Reading this can LITERALLY give you a migrane.

Glad to hear there are so many anti-CAP-ites! Go lower case!