Question

[Paul King]

> You can't really be that new at this.

That's not really the point. Several years ago, I used to give talks on 'net 
use in courses, and sure, I explained 'net acronyms.

I strongly disagree with your implication that 'net acronyms were ever any part 
of a "subculture". 

Acronyms, especially those germaine to a particular area or technology, are and 
have been useful to ease the reading of messages on Internet newsgroups or on 
mailing lists. That is, it rose out of conveniance. Newcomers were often 
encouraged to read a FAQ to become familiar with the norms of the group and 
with the acronyms. I maintain a FAQ for the newsgroup sci.bio.food-science 
where I devote an entire section to scientific and Internet acronyms.

Acronyms are meant to clarify. That is, they are meant to ease the reading of 
messages in the group for those who have dealt much with the topic at hand. If, 
for example I want to talk about polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, it would 
save a lot of typing (and a lot of eyestrain on the part of the reader) to 
simply abbreviate it as PAGE. PAGE might be used several times in the same 
sentence. Anyone interested in PAGE or what it is used for will immediately 
recognise the acronym. If they don't, they can read the FAQ and at least see 
what it stands for. There are many acceptable uses for Internet acronyms, as 
well as smilies and so on. I use them all the time. 

Over-use of acronyms obscure messages. Unless someone wish to post a FAQ to 
interpret their own jargon, they are essentialy writing messages to themselves.

Paul King

> 
> ~ C
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml

=========================================================
Paul King              http://www3.sympatico.ca/pking123/


--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml