I think his point was on a place such as a mailing list, where people are
going for information about the game, seeing acronyms is a little confusing.
Just like words as 'twink', 'kite', 'twist', 'proc', new members to the list
and to EQ do not know what they mean. The same with acronyms. If you are
in the game and using acronyms its fine - you are usually in a hurry or
lazy. But it isn't too much to ask to use the full words on an
informational list such as this. I know it took me about a week to figure
out what a BIBS was and I have been playing since the end of March.
Just for an example, I have LBA, LG, and DBBA for sell. Do you know what I
am talking about? No - go to this page and look it up then :)
> ----------
> From: Mike Roach[SMTP:mroach@...]
> Reply To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Sent: Friday, July 23, 1999 9:52 AM
> To: 'eqbards@onelist.com'
> Subject: RE: [eqbards] Secret Code (OOC)
>
> From: Mike Roach <mroach@...>
>
> Hahaha...too funny, I have never met anyone who was on a crusade against
> acronyms.
>
> This is a game where people communicate in real-time and many of us do not
> type 80 words per minute. If someone uses the acronym "RTS" instead of
> typing out "Runed Totem Staff" I really think they should be forgiven.
> After all, if you don't know what RTS is all you have to do is ask someone
> once.
>
> The only double-meaning acronym in the game I know of is "BB" - one for
> Butcherblock and one for Blackburrow, but you generally do not get
> confused
> because usage is mostly in context.
>
> Oh well...I shouldn't have been lured off topic but I could not resist
> being
> stupefied by this rant, which has come up before much to my disbelief.
>
> Faras Tar'Linedhel
> E'ci
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bob Stewart [mailto:dreambard@...]
> > Sent: Friday, July 23, 1999 9:05 AM
> > To: eqbards@onelist.com
> > Subject: re: [eqbards] Secret Code
> >
> >
> > From: Bob Stewart <dreambard@...>
> >
> > At 09:30 AM 7/23/99 -0400, chlebek@... wrote:
> > >Ah! You just need the secret decoder ring. Here ya go:
> >
> > Sorry, wrong answer. Doesn't scale. Barely works at all.
> > Using acronyms
> > that aren't widely known is inconsiderate of those with whom you are
> > supposedly trying to communicate. Pointing people to an
> > immense list of
> > definitions is simply a way of saying you can't be bothered
> > to type out
> > words that would be relatively sufficient.
> >
> > Overuse of acronyms was one of the problems that made IBM
> > systems difficult
> > and limited their use to the priesthood. More considerate computer
> > companies moved away from secret code.
> >
> > Acronyms are the rudest form of slang and jargon. They are
> > even worse than
> > obscure words like "proc" because they aren't even pronouncable words.
> > Acronyms are effectively a way to invent new words on the
> > fly, then use
> > them and berate the reader for not knowing what they mean.
> >
> > I'll warn you now that I've been fighting this battle in the computer
> > industry for 30 years, with some success. People either get
> > the point and
> > behave less rudely or miss the point and continue to speak in
> > secret code,
> > either not understanding or simply not caring whether they're
> > communicating
> > with the majority of their audience. If you don't mind if
> > the majority of
> > the readers simply don't know what you meant and probably
> > won't bother to
> > find out, use them, but don't kid yourself.
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
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