In the digital era, folk orthologs (language normalizers who are not professional in the quality of speech, the choice of criteria, and the codified norm) have received unlimited access to the electronic publication of their opinions, which has come to the attention of scientists. The relevance of the proposed topic is determined by the need to popularize traditional cultural values, in particular, knowledge of the Russian language. The purpose of the study is to find out the motives of folk orthologs and the norm criteria used in their rulemaking, degree of objectivity, the correspondence of their opinions to scientific ideas and the level of literacy in their statements. The research material was based on judgments about the language of non-professional linguists available at online forums (public dialogues) about the Russian language. The method of content analysis was used, including the search and selection of judgments of folk orthologs, as well as the analysis of linguistic material from the perspective of compliance with norms in linguistic dictionaries. The results of the study showed both the lack of knowledge of folk orthologs about the Russian language and their demand for this knowledge. The motives for their activities were identified - interest in the language and its protection, self-realization, leisure time, and also the main areas of activity of folk orthologs - rulemaking, and the search for norms in spelling, vocabulary and grammar. This knowledge made it possible to propose recommendations for a possible dialogue between scientists and folk orthologs.