1. What it is doing to grammar and spelling. – While I fully understand the practicality of using abbreviations such as brb, WYSIWYG, and the like. Valuable seconds are saved, no doubt adding to the productivity of the nation and the quality of personal life. I also think turning the language into a series of sentence fragments and smiley faces can’t be good. I have heard people respond to a joke by saying “lol” instead of laughing out loud.

2. Web sites and online advertising that make noise. -When I am online the last thing I want is someone else’s music blasted at me. This applies to everyone, from the tiniest personal interest site misguidedly thinking we share tastes all the way to major search engine’s encouragements to watch “Lost”. I know I am not alone, studies have shown that nothing drives visitors from a web site like noise.

3. Frauds.- I mean frauds of all kinds. The anonymity of the Internet has made it extremely easy for people to pretend to be things they are not. This opportunity for deception is played out on all levels of the online community. Never mind the simple deceptions of the chat rooms. They are to a degree, when not criminal, expected and accepted. However, I hear from small business people all time decrying that they have been ripped off, in one fashion or another, by wholesalers and customers. Every time a retailer loses money on a fraudulent wholesale purchase they lose some faith in online wholesale generally. Also, the industry might lose their business literally if that retailer’s business depended on that order.

You might notice that contrary to traditional curmudgeonly takes on the Internet I have left spam off the list. At one time I would have included it but spam filters have changed that. Now spammers have to show a little creativity to reach my mail box. My favorites are the ones with little pieces of text meant to trip up the filters. Often this paragraph or so long bit of prose is taken from a classic novel. I enjoy trying to identify them, last week I spotted The Three Musketeers and War and Peace. I also get a kick out of the permeations of the Nigerian Banking or overseas lottery scam. I’ve been asked several times to dispense millions of dollars in charity, after taking a cut, for repentant scoundrels allegedly under going a death bed conversion. I would like to think the three marriage proposals from various princesses were for real.