Use of "txt speak"

Tom. · Jan 18, 2009

Being the tender age of 20, one would expect me to understand all this txt molarchy. As many of you have said it actually takes twice as long to read, and even then i cant make out some of it.
I dont think its evolution. I think its pure laziness.

Im sure that one of the mods will be aware of the thread which has driven me to bring this topic up.
I will link it anyway just incase.

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=203489

Fair enough its not the worst, but a prime example as to the part which bugs me.
The original poster used "txt speak" in his post, with a severe lack of punctuation and general grammer.
I simply pointed out that it was a forum rule to avoid using such abbreviations, and that people would be more likely to help with his querey if he was to use correct english. Fair enough you cant always lick fault at spelling and grammer, as that would be unfair, but use of simple things such as capital letters and the full correct word isnt exactly asking much.
At this point he seemingly took offence to my reply, despite the fact i was only trying to help him out.

Tom.

WeeJase · Jan 18, 2009

DPJ said:
Language is a beautiful thing and yes, it does evolve.

It has a particular use here on SCN to describe and explain technical issues. Text speak is not capable of doing that - because it's a lower level of language. I've seen plenty of text speak questions here, but I can't think of an example used for an explanation of a complex issue.

In all honesty, text speak is laziness 95% of the time.....

i thought evolution was a way forward not backwards.

Mat · Jan 18, 2009

Brummy said:
It never ceases to amaze me that most of our overseas visitors can speak (write) better English than most of the 'offenders'
says something really, doesn't it.....

agreed

m0rk said:
bt wen iz nt mkin ne sens du u tink dat iz k 2 typ lik a dic? kl?

took me a while to understand that. Bet it tuk u a wile 2 rite it.

One of two things happens with text type offenders, they either go away, or learn to right correctly.

It also doesn't help search results, and no doubt (if I could be arsed to look), they are the first to post a repeated question because their search results wont work with text language

WeeJase · Jan 18, 2009

The random use of "lol"really annoys me also,at the beginning and/or end of a post for no real reason. :shrug:

mrcoyote · Jan 18, 2009

Tom. said:
The original poster used "txt speak" in his post, with a severe lack of punctuation and general grammer.
I simply pointed out that it was a forum rule to avoid using such abbreviations, and that people would be more likely to help with his querey if he was to use correct english. Fair enough you cant always lick fault at spelling and grammer, as that would be unfair, but use of simple things such as capital letters and the full correct word isnt exactly asking much.
At this point he seemingly took offence to my reply, despite the fact i was only trying to help him out.

Whilst I can appreciate the sentiment and intention, the method that was used may not have been the most diplomatic as others decided to add their few pennies worth into the thread which then caused a decline in the overall thread as an information resource.

I've just spent the past 5 minutes clearing up the irrelevant posts from that particular thread which I'd rather not have to do for every thread that's dragged off topic by people, in general, who think it's funny to deliberately aim to humilate people in public.

I'm sure the rest of the moderation and admin team would agree that we have better things to do than clear up the messes that people leave in the various threads so this needs to stop. If anyone feels the need to explain why they think they're exempt from the rules we have in place here then I'm willing to listen...

Tom. · Jan 18, 2009

I may not have used the softest wording, but at no point did i aim to humiliate the original poster.
It was a case of being straight to the point and i did continue, to contribute towards the question asked within the thread giving my advice from experiences.
I appreciate that the thread went off course however, feel this was through no doing of my own.

ArosaRacer · Jan 18, 2009

when i was admin on a mondeo site using text speak was a ban from the forum

markmeus · Jan 18, 2009

WeeJase said:
The random use of "lol"really annoys me also,at the beginning and/or end of a post for no real reason.

I'm a little guilty of the occasional "lol"

On the whole I would agree that text speak should not be tolerated on the forum. I don't even use it in my text messages, as it takes me longer to write and decipher.

jamiebennett81 · Jan 18, 2009

MarkE said:
I want to know - do they find it easy to read stuff like that, because for me it takes 3 times as long as if it was spelled correctly. In fact, I find it easier to read that thing about how, if you leave the first and last letters of the words in place, you can mix the rest up and still understand the sentence.

thats what I dont get, must take more concentration to type like that on a keyboard

on a phone easier, given that it does not have a fully layed out keyboard

No I dont believe they that changed the teaching and spelling of english that much at school, so why do it

I do it on the phone, although not to the extent chavs do it, (cant understand or write proper chav words, just abbreviate things) as it does cut down words and amounts of txt I send, but come on....on a forum, right properly for goodness sake!!

Craig Senior · Jan 18, 2009

I've never used it, even on the phone. I now have a phone with a full keyboard so all my texts are written in full.

All my friends know that if they send me a message with txt spk then they won't get a reply.

dholdi · Jan 18, 2009

jamiebennett81 said:
right properly for goodness sake!!

sorry couldnt resist it

jamiebennett81 · Jan 18, 2009

dholdi said:
sorry couldnt resist it

doh....its late, is my excuse!!

si-mate · Jan 19, 2009

coxw said:
There was a thread floating about the other day by ZBOYD about forum conduct, but I think people are so busy to get their opinions or questions off their chests when they sign up as newbies that the rules & regulations of the forum are not necessarily read in any level of detail.

Sadly when you look at the list of people who viewed that thread, the names of the repeat offenders aren't on there.

Tom. said:
Fair enough you cant always lick fault at spelling and grammer, as that would be unfair

Oh I don't know. I think ripping the p**s out of others spelling and grammAr is highly entertaining.

Mat · Jan 19, 2009

ArosaRacer said:
when i was admin on a mondeo site using text speak was a ban from the forum

Now that's an idea

3 strike rule or something like that

mrcoyote · Jan 19, 2009

Randomly Set said:
3 strike rule or something like that

You would have been gone ages ago then...

honeyman · Jan 19, 2009

I know i'm guilty of using LOL too much, but thats mainly because i fear people will take what i say too seriously.

Mat · Jan 19, 2009

mrcoyote said:
You would have been gone ages ago then...

there needs to be the odd special person to make numbers up to show that there's no discrimination :cartman:

Brummy · Jan 19, 2009

Mat in self -proclaimed 'odd special person' claim shocker!! :blink:

Mylo · Jan 19, 2009

honeyman said:
I know i'm guilty of using LOL too much, but thats mainly because i fear people will take what i say too seriously.

a quick scan of the forums shows that even the big mods use the term, it's a harmless one.

A sentence constructed entirely of text speak is not harmless though, it makes your head hurt :doh:

Using an abbreviation instead of several words saves space on the server

ZBOYD · Jan 19, 2009

There is nothing up with LOL or LMAO or most internet related acronyms they are common place and are on the most part understood.

Entire posts that rely on txt spk are just a waste of time though.

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