c-a-p-i-t-a-l l-e-t-t-e-r-s
Sorry guys but I couldn't believe my eyes. When I wanted to comment on a photograph of a blue sky and a blue sea with the following words "¡QUE ENVIDIA! seeing the pop-up frame saying: "Writing in all capital letters is considered shouting, and is not allowed by the forum rules. Please rewrite your post without using words in all caps," I then realized that I had been gagged. I just wanted to express my POSITIVE and by no means SHOUTING jelousy of the weather in New Zealand. Being from Poland I dare to think that i am fully entitled to do that. Anyway, since when have capital letter been standing for shouting and negative emotions? Do we really have to be that politically correct here? I won't accept that policy. Sometimes, when I wanted to use colloquial language here, my post was erased. What's going on here? Might anyone be so kind as to enlighten me?
11 Answers
Judging from your outrage, Bombera, I can tell that you have not run into all the built-in rules and restrictions of the site, yet. 
I don't really think they are policy as such, as an implementation of a feature of the Forum Software. As an old-time Internet user, I can understand perfectly where the "all caps rule" comes from, and why it was built. I too find it annoying at times, as well as some of the "curse-word-filters" that occasionally kick in even if you're trying to write a perfectly normal, acceptable word.
Is it annoying? Yes, sometimes. Is it absolutely necessary? Probably not.
Can we live with it? Well, like others, I have picked up a few tricks to circumvent the "rule"; it seems to be easier than trying to change the software, and as long as you don't abuse it, nobody's going to complain or edit your post.
Having said all of the above, I find myself compelled to remind us all that this is not a democracy. Think of it more like a social club. This is a virtual community, with a set of rules written by a small group of people, who arrived at them for a number of good reasons. The rest of us are allowed to participate and be part of the community, as long as we are able to abide by the (sometimes arbitrary, never open to discussion) rules, and put up with its quirks and idiosyncrasies. All of us who like it, or at least are willing to put with it, fine - stay and play. Anyone who does not like it, is of course free to go to any other site that works more according to his or her preferences. Such is the nature of the Internet, and the virtual word.
We can,of course, ask about why things are the way they are, and even offer suggestions for improvement. But that does not mean that anyone will actually change anything, and getting angry about it serves absolutely no purpose.
Just my two cents, or whatever it's worth.
HI B O M E R, Read Section II #4
Well, Izanoni and Jeezle, your answers prove that this rule is even more absurd (at least to me)
As a language learning site, I suppose that I can understand the necessity of not allowing all rules of orthography to be arbitrarily thrown out the window (i.e. by allowing an entire post to be written in all capital letters). On the other hand, I do find it to be a bit irritating, and it becomes especially problematic when it comes to writing abbreviations/acronyms. I suppose that the creators/implementors of the site felt that the bolded text and italicized text features were sufficient tools for adding emphasis to a statement.
On a personal level, I tend to tune out on a writer when their text is written entirely in capital letters (or completely bolded text for that matter). To me there is something just too monotonous/visually distracting about it (unless it is written with "small-caps" as many engineers are often trained to do).
Well, Izanoni and Jeezle, your answers prove that this rule is even more absurd (at least to me) 
I'd compare it to a cigarette vending machin with a notice on it "Not for children under 18."
The association of using all caps with shouting goes back to the earliest days of the internet (Nothing but plain text. No graphics, no emoticons, no bold text, no italics, etc.)
Many thanks to all of you for you answers. I didn't know that that's a kind of remnant of old-time Internet rules. Of course, I don't want to stamp on it, I rather wanted to get to know the reason for this rule. I've simmered down now, so I can live on with it 
I don't know how difficult it is to make this kind of change but it seems reasonable to me to allow up to 2 words in a row in all caps.
I couldn't talk about Paralee's W E I R D O until I just now read about the spaces!
I received the same notice when I tried to write E E U U all run together.
Easy. The site has a no capital letters policy, (three letters in a row). You can circumvent it T H U S L Y.
