Annoying Chat Speak

[Gashouse6]

I hate it when people use the chat speak. I don't like any of the lol, u, r, and all of that. I'm not saying that it should be disallowed here, I just think it is a little annoying. Does anyone else think this too?
(this isn't supposed to be an insult to those who use chat speek)

[Reed Johnson]

lol ur so funny. r u going to any baseball games this year?

[Mattingly]

Gashouse6, can you please post a link to the threads you've found these in?

AG1, would you mind not attempting to irritate someone by using language that they're complaining about? You may find it funny, but I don't.

Since this is a baseball forum, rather than some chat room, please use proper English, including full words with minimal abbreviation, especially of the "chat" variety.

[Gashouse6]

Gashouse6, can you please post a link to the threads you've found these in?

I think this is going to be very hard to do. This chat is used in a lot of threads.

[Mattingly]

If it's used minimally, and "lol" or "LOL" are used quite often, then I don't mind. If it's used to start a thread or you notice a forumer using this extensively, please post here. If you wish to remain anonymous, then you or anyone else can simply PM one of the Mods here (starting with the forum's Mod). Pick one you feel very comfortable discussing this with.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Fortunately, it seems only a minority of posters use chat speak here. It's not really against site rules, so hunting for it won't accomplish much.
You're not alone, Gashouse. Trust me. To be honest, it's hard to take someone seriously here when they shorten words all cutesy like.

[runningshoes]

Fortunately, it seems only a minority of posters use chat speak here. It's not really against site rules, so hunting for it won't accomplish much.
You're not alone, Gashouse. Trust me. To be honest, it's hard to take someone seriously here when they shorten words all cutesy like.

And they tend to have short attention spans anyways, thus not hanging about where the written word is an agreed upon requirement.

[Brian McKenna]

this is not chat speak but i don't think we should be using NL to denote the negro leagues:
1) NL is the traditional abbreviation for national league
2) negro leagues is a term not an entity, it describes all of black baseball, not a specific league like negro national league (NNL) - how many different definitions would you get if you asked a group to define 'negro leagues'?

i suggest - NgL

Negro Major Leagues
1920-31 Negro National League
1923-28 Eastern Colored League
1929 American Negro League
1932 East-West League
1932 Negro Southern League
1933-48 Negro National League
1937-60 Negro American League

[Reed Johnson]

If it's used minimally, and "lol" or "LOL" are used quite often, then I don't mind. If it's used to start a thread or you notice a forumer using this extensively, please post here. If you wish to remain anonymous, then you or anyone else can simply PM one of the Mods here (starting with the forum's Mod). Pick one you feel very comfortable discussing this with.

rofl lmao ur even funier.

[Mattingly]

rofl lmao ur even funier.

And might I ask why you're using chatspeak to reply to me in a thread that complains about just that? Are you trying to be a wise acre?

Unless one is sending text messages on a cell phone that lacks a keyboard, I can't see chatspeak being used much, outside of a chatboard itself frequented by teenagers. This is a forum. Please use proper and full words when posting here, as I've seen you do in the past.

Thank you!

[Williamsburg2599]

I tend to do this alot,not to annoy people or to be lazy but mostly because most of the typing I do is either IMs,texts, or friendly emails,so it's sort of a thing of habbit.I apologize if its bugging anyone.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Is using this chat speak really this bad? Does it really matter if someone uses LOL once in a while.

As long as people don't use it all the time, what is the big deal?

I can understand that the English language will deteriorate with the use of 4u or r u. But again I wonder if the use of LOL is that harmful.

Question: Is "IMO" a proper abbreviation or is it chat speak also?

Thank you.

[Gashouse6]

Is using this chat speak really this bad? Does it really matter if someone uses LOL once in a while.

As long as people don't use it all the time, what is the big deal?

I can understand that the English language will deteriorate with the use of 4u or r u. But again I wonder if the use of LOL is that harmful.

Question: Is "IMO" a proper abbreviation or is it chat speak also?

Thank you.

A little chat speak isn't that bad. And what does IMO mean? I feel like I should know because I've seen it so much.

[Williamsburg2599]

IMO means In My Opinion.

[Gashouse6]

IMO means In My Opinion.

It all makes sense now!!!

[brewcrew82]

Question: Is "IMO" a proper abbreviation or is it chat speak also?

Thank you.

Chat speak, but it seems that it is become more of an accepted abbreviation.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Question Mattingly....

Is WTF considered a bad word on here? And I'm not being a wise arse, I swear.

[brewcrew82]

I would advise against using it. If that abbreviation is used, that could lead the way to more "off-colour" abbreviations and we don't really want that.

[Mattingly]

Question Mattingly....

Is WTF considered a bad word on here? And I'm not being a wise arse, I swear.

Considering that it means "What the F***", I would say it's very unacceptable. I've seen forumers try sneaking in "POS" (piece/pile of s***) and a few others.

I advise against it, since what happens is that people pick up on that and feel that they can say this to each other conversationally, especially with someone they disagree with. If someone takes offense, they can either be insulted or worse, use harsher terms, some of which may not even be abbreviated.

My suggestion to you, especially since you're a wise forumer who's gotten used to us and are part of what I consider the "furniture" around here (meaning people expect to see you here, just as they do the furniture in their homes) is to just act in a way that you'd appreciate others speaking to you, even if they didn't know you.

Since we've got youngsters here, especially in the "Baseball 101" forum, we try keeping the entire site PG-rated. By this, we try strongly limiting any harsh wording that people may think of. The least harsh, the more positive, we feel leads to better communication and less hostility.

Thanks.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Considering that it means "What the F***", I would say it's very unacceptable. I've seen forumers try sneaking in "POS" (piece/pile of s***) and a few others.

I advise against it, since what happens is that people pick up on that and feel that they can say this to each other conversationally, especially with someone they disagree with. If someone takes offense, they can either be insulted or worse, use harsher terms, some of which may not even be abbreviated.

My suggestion to you, especially since you're a wise forumer who's gotten used to us and are part of what I consider the "furniture" around here (meaning people expect to see you here, just as they do the furniture in their homes) is to just act in a way that you'd appreciate others speaking to you, even if they didn't know you.

Since we've got youngsters here, especially in the "Baseball 101" forum, we try keeping the entire site PG-rated. By this, we try strongly limiting any harsh wording that people may think of. The least harsh, the more positive, we feel leads to better communication and less hostility.

Thanks.

Mattingly,

Figured as much. While I could be typing something I saw, like "I walked over there and thought wtf, where did this come from." Even if used in those terms, it's something that could end up being used too liberally, and that's no good. Gotcha

Sincerely,

The Leather Couch

[Mattingly]

Mattingly,

Figured as much. While I could be typing something I saw, like "I walked over there and thought wtf, where did this come from." Even if used in those terms, it's something that could end up being used too liberally, and that's no good. Gotcha

Sincerely,

The Leather Couch

Hey, that's the spirit.

What I'd forgotten to post was that, since you're considered a knowledgeable forumer of a historical figure, per your username and overall knowledge of baseball history, I kind of tend to expect a bit more of people like that. There are Mods and there are forumers who post well and keep the place in order, as to their discretion and thoughtfulness. Sort of like the "senior" or "upstanding citizens" here.

There are many, but since I definitely have to think quite a few times before posting, and believe me, there have been *QUITE* a few times that a few words posted too liberally from me could've caused a firestorm, I just ask the more respected forumers here to keep the place in upstanding order.

Since you're the Leather Couch, I'm quite sure that it would be a very high quality collector's item. Louis XIV, anybody?

Take care, enjoy the board.

[Ubiquitous]

I find it odd that when people find other peoples behaviour or actions annoying they want them to change. To me its like an old man yelling at the sky because its raining.

Once you go down the path of changing other peoples ways you expose to others changing your ways.

I'm a strong live and let live person. If you're reading somebodies posts and you find them annoying or grating heres a hint on what to do. Stop reading the post! If you are getting nothing of value from a posters words then don't read their posts, getting them to write in perfect english is not going to change the value of their post, it's just going to take longer to read. Almost nothing has ever been gained by pointing out a flaw in somebodies grammar, spelling, or writing style.

[Mattingly]

I find it odd that when people find other peoples behaviour or actions annoying they want them to change. To me its like an old man yelling at the sky because its raining.

Once you go down the path of changing other peoples ways you expose to others changing your ways.

I'm a strong live and let live person. If you're reading somebodies posts and you find them annoying or grating heres a hint on what to do. Stop reading the post! If you are getting nothing of value from a posters words then don't read their posts, getting them to write in perfect english is not going to change the value of their post, it's just going to take longer to read. Almost nothing has ever been gained by pointing out a flaw in somebodies grammar, spelling, or writing style.

That would seem quite plausible in real life. If I didn't like someone's ways, I'd likely ignore them. In fact, I've done just that.

However, in online, once one person starts this up, then the next person and then another continues this. Soon, we'll have more people doing this.

I happen to overlook quite a few grammatical errors. If someone writes "it's" when it should be "its", or "red" instead of "read" or something, I've looked the other way. I'll just want to know what the person is saying.

However, when I see "r u gng 2 cm c me 2dy" or anything similar, I'm thinking the person isn't even making an attempt to discuss things in a regular manner.

So long as the majority of threads I've written here were in the regular English, I'm more than happy keeping it that way. If people don't like that, then my alternative would be for them to find other forums were chatspeak is both acceptable and encouraged. I'm not sure how great the level of discussion would be in highly abbreviated form, nor how much research someone would even bother to put in if they're not even willing to compose a few simple sentences or paragraphs, but I'm happy the way things are here.

[2Chance]

I happen to be one of those dinosaurs who never chats, texts or makes an attempt to read those bungled mini-messages. However, there are a few abbreviations that I recognize and think are acceptable. Just throwing these out for you, Mr. Mattingly:
LOL=Laugh(ing) Out Loud
IMO=In My Opinion
IMHO=In My Humble Opinion
IIRC=If I Remember Correctly

I had to ask about that last one, but it has some application on a discussion board like this. ("IIRC, Junior had two home runs in that game...") It's something that is recognizable now, even though for my use, it's usually typed out before I can remember the abbreviation.

Most other "annoying chatspeak" isn't recognizable, and I think there are a lot of us who appreciate you and your fellow moderators keeping this area looking like we have a modicum of intelligence. The use of these more than a little bit can reflect poorly on a group of people who have so much baseball knowledge.

[Mattingly]

2Chance:

I believe that the abbreviations you'd mentioned would be quite acceptable here. What bothers me is when people abbreviate everyday words, like "you're" to become "ur" or change "today" to "2day" or something similar.

Unless someone has less than a regulation-sized keyboard, what's so hard to type up about a few words? I've posted very long posts on a regular keyboard, so unless someone is on a cell phone keyboard or using one of those mini keyboards built into a PDA, why can't they type regular sentences?

I've used "bg" (big grin), ROFLOL (rolling on the floor laughing out loud) and many others. Not that often now, but those are fine.

I just get the impression that if someone isn't going to take a few seconds to post in regular English, then they may not even do any research or put any thought into what they're writing. If someone proves me correct, then fine. However, the regulars here would need to understand what's being written.

If we're all on the same page re understanding a few abbreviations like IMHO (in my humble/honest opinion). However, those are like words "thrown in" to a regular discussion. When the words become a larger part of the text people are writing, then it becomes problematic.

http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm

There are quite a few abbreviated words in here, as it's extensive. If someone posted these words on a regular basis, we'd all need an online dictionary before too long. Either that or we'd never be able to understand what was written, which would be a sad waste of good ideas.