Text speak

Jay P

This isn't a post reprimanding text speak, nor is it one advocating its use, it's merely an observation. The way I see it, most people here use proper grammar and spelling, and that it's mostly new users who use text speak. The thing that annoys me is that people can get a tad abusive and condescending when it comes to people using text speak, and it's not exactly pleasent for a new user to have this when they don't really know fully the rules and ways of life here on Boards.ie. The one example I can recall is here, where the OP is asking a simple question about medecine and the thread is dragged completely off topic by people essentially being obnoxious and almost abusive about something so frivellous as spellings. I know it's easier to read, we have keyboards and blah blah blah, but when it comes to new posters, surely the thing to do is to be more welcoming and more polite and maybe pointing out the fact they should be using their keyboards more extensively.

Edit: I'd imagine that many users would be put off by people giving out about something which seemingly means nothing to them when they're new to this world and aren't used to the ways of the samurai.

That's my view anyway. Hopefully I've said all I wanted 2 say....

Ponster

9 time out of 10 I think you're right. New members who are not aware of all the rules and how the site works should be treated a little more gently at the start of their Boards.ie lives.

In saying that, when someone starts a thread asking for advice if they should go to Uni. in Galway or Trinity in the style of the below post (your example) itwas always going to lead the way it did.

If I was moderator over there I would have locked the thread and warned the OP for trolling.

yea sure soz
wel iv always wanted to go trinity but now ppl are sayin to me its reli hard to meet up wit ur friends whereas in galway u can walk everywhere
also iv been told dat il b stayin lyk an hour from campus so if i eva wanted to go library or gym i cudnt go home first !?

Kiera

There is a forum called "Newbies & FAQ" In that forum you will find the following thread: Boards.ie 101 - A Beginner's Guide In that thread you will find the following:

Boards.ie Charter

While each forum has its own forum charter, the general Boards.ie Charter applies to every forum. Common sense prevails when posting on Boards.ie but below is a brief guide;

• Personal Abuse will not be tolerated – Attack the post and not the poster.
• Spamming / Advertising will not be tolerated – please contact one of the admins, or sales@boards.ie, for more information on advertising.
• Posting the same topic in several forums is considered spamming – Please pick the most appropriate forum for your topic, and post it there.
• Inappropriate Posts will be removed – this includes vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.
• Duplicate accounts are not permitted - if you require a duplicate account, please PM one of the admins to discuss it.
• Txt or l33t speak is not permitted. Its very, VERY, hard to read posts constructed in that way!

IMO they dont really have an excuse.

javaboy

I usually put a stop to that kind of thing as early as possible. It's nothing but bullying to go on and on about it to that degree. Sure it's against the rules but then that makes those comments back seat modding then right?

Jay P

Kiera wrote: »

There is a forum called "Newbies & FAQ" In that forum you will find the following thread: Boards.ie 101 - A Beginner's Guide In that thread you will find the following:IMO they dont really have an excuse.

Yeah, I understand your point, but I don't hink all newbies are going to know exactly how to navigate around the site. I mean, when I started, it was a few months before I knew about that forum and the helpdesk. People will know when someone is new, all I'm saying is some leniency would be nice. I'd imagine it's the same amount or maybe even less characters just to point out the fact they're not supposed to talk like that, as oppsed to getting up on a high horse and giving out about not being able to read it.

Kiera

Jay P wrote: »

Yeah, I understand your point, but I don't hink all newbies are going to know exactly how to navigate around the site. I mean, when I started, it was a few months before I knew about that forum and the helpdesk. People will know when someone is new, all I'm saying is some leniency would be nice. I'd imagine it's the same amount or maybe even less characters just to point out the fact they're not supposed to talk like that, as oppsed to getting up on a high horse and giving out about not being able to read it.

You're always going to get smart-arsed people who have a go at newbies to try make themselves look big and clever. I dont think thats ever going to change.

Gummy Panda

Does every forum have in it's charter a warning on txtspeak?

Ponster

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Does every forum have in it's charter a warning on txtspeak?

No. The txtspk rule is a site-wide rule.


From post #3

Boards.ie Charter

While each forum has its own forum charter, the general Boards.ie Charter applies to every forum.

mike65

Who reads the charter?

Jazzy

$0 | (@|\|7 \/\/|9|73 |_|K3 7|-||$ ?

AckwelFoley

mike65 wrote: »

Who reads the charter?

wut iz teh charter? It takz az much ef4t 2 txt spk az it doz 2 rite prop.

i try to keep it as near to oxford engrish as i can. However my spelling is very poor

Red Sleeping Beauty

mike65 wrote: »

Who reads the charter?

Nobody does. One mod will tell you they're a set of rules, others say they're guidelines.

A bit of txt spk doesn't bother me. What really stirs my shít is people using "their" instead of "there" or "they're", also "were" and "where" and people leaving out apostrophes or putting them in the wrong place so you get isnt when it should be isn't,

Another one that's awful is "its" :

its = possession
it's = it + is
(I have read this post over a dozen times to check for any possible errors but I just know that I've a stray comma somewhere!)

Red Sleeping Beauty

+1 to the txt spk forum anyway

WhiteWashMan

Alan Rouge wrote: »

A bit of txt spk doesn't bother me. What really stirs my shít is people using "their" instead of "there" or "they're", also "were" and "where" and people leaving out apostrophes or putting them in the wrong place so you get isnt when it should be isn't,

Not an apostrophy, but you probably could have done with a comma in there.



I think the main reason behind txt spk not being allowed was really bacause the vast majority of people never wanted it for one reason or another.

Personally, you have a full keyboard, use it.
Besides, txt spk it too difficult to understand.


The other thing that gets my goat is the 'phonetic' type speach where people try and write with some sort of odd accent.

Hey, go and read Feersum Endjinn by Iain M Banks without reading it in a scottish accent and tell me how enjoable it is.

There really is no need to dumb down the website just to suit a small minority of people. If you want dumbed down, go somewhere else.

Tom Dunne

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

Personally, you have a full keyboard, use it.

As mod of the Mobiles/PDA forum, I am going to get a little pedantic here, mainly because I got caught out by the above. Not everyone has a full keyboard in front of them. Some use mobile devices.

I abhor text speak. I despise it unconditionally. I see it as borderline illiterate idocy of the highest order. Apart from the fact it is almost impossible to decipher, we also have a percentage of non-native English speaker on Boards.ie who also have trouble with it.

So when I encounter it, I politely ask the offender to refrain from using and ask everyone else not to reprimand the poster, that is the job of the mods.

That approach usually works.

WhiteWashMan

Tom Dunne wrote: »

As mod of the Mobiles/PDA forum, I am going to get a little pedantic here, mainly because I got caught out by the above. Not everyone has a full keyboard in front of them. Some use mobile devices.

I abhor text speak. I despise it unconditionally. I see it as borderline illiterate idocy of the highest order. Apart from the fact it is almost impossible to decipher, we also have a percentage of non-native English speaker on Boards.ie who also have trouble with it.

So when I encounter it, I politely ask the offender to refrain from using and ask everyone else not to reprimand the poster, that is the job of the mods.

That approach usually works.

And yes, just becuase someone does it, does not mean that they should be lynched.
A request is also preferable to some of the shenanigans that goes on admittedly. But i think the over reaction of some users shows just how much the practice of txt spk is hated

biko

Boards have replaced school as a learning tool.
I crack down on txt spk in my forums if I see it, would hate to see boards go the way of bebo *shudders*

Sparky

IMO

txt spk is there for the time you were limited to 160 characters of txt and to save additional costs of sending another message.
This is an internet forum where replies are limited to 10,000 characters roughly. You have a qwerty keyboard in front of you! So use it!!

I can understand that a certain number of people use mobile devices to use boards, but there is no 160 character limit in a reply.

If I see txt spk, I'm going to assume you are 12!

Rb

Sparky wrote: »

IMO

txt spk is there for the time you were limited to 160 characters of txt and to save additional costs of sending another message.
This is an internet forum where replies are limited to 10,000 characters roughly. You have a qwerty keyboard in front of you! So use it!!

I can understand that a certain number of people use mobile devices to use boards, but there is no 160 character limit in a reply.

If I see txt spk, I'm going to assume you are 12!

I agree.

Text speak infuriates me as it's the result of pure laziness, both in terms of bothering to type properly and/or learning how to spell.

I don't blame any user for giving out to someone for using it either, with regards to text speak they shouldn't have to wait for a mod to come along, it should be attempted to be sorted then and there. Simiarly, if someone posted porn you'd expect users to say something about it.

Text speak seems to be spreading in the OPs of PI lately, which is unfortunate as I'm sure a lot stop reading as soon as they seen people omitting letters or bizarrely spelling words such as "lyk" "didn" "enuf".

Text speak annoys me immensely. But, there's one thing which annoys me much much more than typical text speak... When somebody chooses to spell a word using text speak with the same number of letters as the word really has; for example, liok. That really drives me mad.

stovelid

Text speak is just plain bad manners. Like talking in deliberately obtuse slang in front of strangers.

It's OK amongst simple like-minded people, but not when you're writing posts in a relatively open, public forum.