Although I myself tend to miss apostrophes frequently, I do agree that the new wave of chat is becoming more and more dumbed down. Actually, I ususally avoid apostrophes whenever I can and frequently do not type them on the sole basis that I never remember where to put them. Most of the time my sentences do not suffer from this but I believe the more radical changes in text really do cause problems. It takes longer to read and translate a post written in modern day slang and overall, we waste more time switching our brain from an active, fluent english to slang terms. If anyone who types or writes in this slang actually takes time to read posts written in the same way (although on reflection the majority probably do not) they only waste more time than they save writing it.
Looking back, I notice one of my more backhanded comments could be taken offensively and while I could care less if I offend most people here (because anyone who is offended will logically be typing in slang and therefore lose any remaining respect I had) I feel the need to justify my statement. Let me keep it short, if you want to be taken seriously, if you want people to see you as mature, intelligent or serious, talking in internet slang will only hurt you. I can't speak for anyone but I can say that I personally find it hard to take anyone speaking in slang very seriously and on the internet the fact is made much larger by the fact that I've never spoken with the person talking face-to-face. I also cannot say that I've ever heard someone say that seeing slang brings positive thoughts.
But I ramble again. My point is, slang does not sound professional or mature and will negatively impact any serious conversation.
