As long as it's one word in a sentence, i don't care but i've seen people post on other forums using an abbreviation every two words. That's annoying.

I wouldn't worry about it, you're going to encounter ppl, lol, or something like that anywhere you are. Only thing that ever bugs me is when they use a word and I have no idea what it means [img]graemlins/uhoh1.gif[/img]

I prefer it when people use whole words and sentences. I've never understood that online chat or posting was supposed to be a race. I thought the idea was to communicate and make connection with others. I even try to use proper grammar, if for no other reason than it helps those who are not native English speakers. (Don't bother quoting fmistakes from previous posts; I know that I don't do as well as I would prefer. :D ) After more than a year posting on forums, I still have problems with abbreviations for common phrases. How do you learn what they mean if everybody who "knows" is already abbreviating them? (AFAIK?)

I think people do it for 1 of two reasons, or maybe both. Either one they do it because it is less work for the fingers or they do it because it's their type of writing style.

By the way, what does IIRC mean?

I'm a real stickler for proper grammar, so it really irks me when people use things like "ppl" and other abbreviations. I have the same problem as Aelia, I have to do a double take when I read things like "ppl" and "ur" because they don't register in my brain right away. They're unnatural. And it's really not that difficult to type a couple of more letters.

And the problems people have with your/you're and they're/there/their are really annoying as well. *sigh*

You're shoes untied there, Starshadow :D

I know what you mean. It's annoying when you're trying to have a conversation and you have to decode every second word because it's been 'conveniently' abbreviated. Speed is an issue for chatting (though not for message boards - really no excuse there), but personally I'd rather the message took a few extra seconds to be typed than feel like I'm talking to a text message. SMS has a lot to answer for :D

I try to always use correct spelling and grammar because I don't want any bad habits. Last year during a Programming exam (80% of the year's marks) a friend of mine spent so much time going back over incorrect words (typed quickly and without thinking, such as btw and dont) that he didn't have enough time to complete the other tasks.

If I'm ever going to start a career as a serial hacker, I'd probably be targetting people who constantly use these kind of abominable phonetic abbreviations. Major pet peeve of mine. And yes, I *do* care. I honestly have problems with people using "ppl" instead of people, "NE1" or whatever instead of anyone, "u" instead of you, "r" instead of are, (or even worse) "ur(e)" instead of you're or even your (I've seen both), "t(h)ru" instead of through, end words with an "s" at the end with a "z" instead, "n00" instead of new... Especially when they use it in serious mesageboard discussions and actually *do* know how to spell it, but prefer the phonetic abbreviation instead, for whatever reason.

Just a snippet from another board I visit every once and awhile:

and from the same guy...

Saddest thing? That guy who typed that was in his thirties. :rolleyes:
Seriously, to anyone typing like that: it's not cool. You don't earn anyone's respect by constantly raping the English language, all you do is get people annoyed. I'm trying not to judge people by the way they type, but typing like that doesn't really help getting a positive image of someone, to be honest.

[ 03-10-2003, 07:00 AM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

If I Remember Correctly. And AFAIK means "As Far As I Know".
Abbreviations like "BTW", "IIRC" and "IM(H)O" are okay in my book, by the way. Those aren't based on phonetics like the ones I mentioned in my previous post and just don't come across as that respectless as those others...
At least they make some sort of sense and don't directly break every grammar rule in the book.

[ 03-10-2003, 07:05 AM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]