I agree with you that, in a general forum, it really isn't that important. But that's not what Bolo was saying; or at least that is not what I inferred from his comment, following on as it did from his comment about marking.
The point I was making was that spellink and gran'ma have got worse, because it's not corrected in the early years. It's not corrected because of the teaching fraternity deliberately placing less emphasis on correct grammar and spelling. I think that's wrong. I think that, as a result of that lack of correction and input in their education, a lot of people struggle to make themselves understood.
Freeform is ok, when you've learnt to do the proper stuff; but not as a way on its own.