Does Grammar Really Matter Anymore?

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Depends on your age. In the last few decades, emphasis in education has been on self-esteem, so younger people are without shame in writing ungrammatically, even proud of their "creativity" and generational distinctiveness. Having never been graded or humiliated in school, they are both stupid and vain.
I've had this out with a few youths on forums, and it's a lost cause.

Luther of IL 6:06PM August 13, 2008

Grammar, spelling and proper punctuation all count toward creating an impression of the writer to others. Frankly, if someone is writing, "ull w8 4 me 2 b with u?", I tend to think of them as lazy and uneducated. The impression I get is that they think my time trying to figure out that the message is really a message and not the chemical formula for Ecstasy isn't as important as the amount of time they have to spend typing it all in. Their expediency is more important than my comprehension.
That's a good way to get a message misunderstood.
u , 2 wedding Maria mr . Try THAT one on for size.
another reason its so important is because you cant tell when something ends and another thought begins this causes problems with reading and comprehension one though can lead into another in a stream of consciousness that is impossible to follow but this is how some people think others will understand them stupid isnt it
This is the age of communication. More people can communicate directly with more other people than at any time in the history of our planet. I find it ironic that the very mechanisms we employ to communicate with others have created this movement to ban (or no longer teach) the very things (grammar, punctuation and spelling) which make communication POSSIBLE in the first place.

Fatesrider of CA 1:25PM August 13, 2008