Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to All:
Which way in writing the word "fidonet" is
the most correct:
1. fidonet
2. Fidonet
3, FIDONET
This apparently simple question has brought all sorts of interesting people out of the woodwork. Give yourself a gold star... [chuckle].
#2 seems to be most common nowadays. I hear what Nil is saying, and remember when the /N/ was usually capitalized. But native speakers of English tend to shorten or simplify words according to what seems easier... whether or not it makes sense to others. Either way I'd capitalize the /F/ here because, as the name of an organization, "Fidonet" is a proper noun.
You may notice #3 as a user on someone else's system where the names of various echoes are spelled entirely in capital letters. Dallas & I do much the same. According to the way we were taught, the names of books & magazines are underlined when you're writing things out by hand or using ye olde antique typewriter which allows you to type more than one character in the same space. With typeset material &/or articles found on the Internet such names generally appear in italics. The objective, as I see it, is to make the title stand out from whatever you or I have to say... and we do the best we can. When you see me spell ENGLISH_TUTOR or FIDONEWS or FIDONET.TELEGRAM in capital letters, I'm sure you'll understand I'm treating these echoes as I would magazines.... :-)
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)