Ask the Moderators

[Abi]

Plus if you get avatars from other sites, then more are 80 x 80 than 100 x 100

[shannisrules]

well the newbies as you call them lol cant have an avatar until 1000 posts so they dont need to worry

[di marco]

i dont mean to offend anyone here, but the whole thing about text talk, i can understand not using things like "u" and "r" and "no" instead of know and stuff like that, but how come words like btw, imo and tbh are allowed to be used when its obvious from this thread that some people dont know what they mean, but words such as "hwk" have to be written in full when teachers have been using it for years. just wondering thats all

[.:SpIcYsPy:.]

i dont mean to offend anyone here, but the whole thing about text talk, i can understand not using things like "u" and "r" and "no" instead of know and stuff like that, but how come words like btw, imo and tbh are allowed to be used when its obvious from this thread that some people dont know what they mean, but words such as "hwk" have to be written in full when teachers have been using it for years. just wondering thats all

That's actually a good point.. I guess it's allowed because it's an abbreviated word?

[Behemoth]

i dont mean to offend anyone here, but the whole thing about text talk, i can understand not using things like "u" and "r" and "no" instead of know and stuff like that, but how come words like btw, imo and tbh are allowed to be used when its obvious from this thread that some people dont know what they mean, but words such as "hwk" have to be written in full when teachers have been using it for years. just wondering thats all

It depends on the Mod who spots the words and what their interpretation of text talk is. To me, IMO, BTW and all those are abbreviations and I wouldn't give an alert for them. However, hwk and cwk are not abbreviations and are therefore, in my opinion, text talk.
I don't care what words teachers use in school and college or anywhere. What I care about is keeping these boards tidy and making sure all posters abide by the rules.

[di marco]

It depends on the Mod who spots the words and what their interpretation of text talk is. To me, IMO, BTW and all those are abbreviations and I wouldn't give an alert for them. However, hwk and cwk are not abbreviations and are therefore, in my opinion, text talk.
I don't care what words teachers use in school and college or anywhere. What I care about is keeping these boards tidy and making sure all posters abide by the rules.

yeh but what im saying is, how are we supposed to know what we are allowed to use and what we are not allowed to use?

[Behemoth]

yeh but what im saying is, how are we supposed to know what we are allowed to use and what we are not allowed to use?

Just write in full. It's not hard to do and makes the board look a lot tidier. The website rules that NB wrote say that all text talk is banned so words like BTW and IMO should get a warning but I'm just saying words that I wouldn't give one for.

[JustJodi]

~I suggest you read THIS It explains the rules very well

Problem is there are just too many folks here who DO NOT WANT TO ABIDE by the rules. Too bad this is also part of the real world,, rules are there for a reason or things will come undone,, Alan thanks for pointing this out and putting up the link

[Meh]

The point of the text talk rule is simple: legible words are easier to understand for everybody. Some of the text posts are extremely convoluted and hard to understand.

Everybody slips in the occasional 'u' instead of 'you' and other abbreviations (and I am guilty as anyone), but what we really are targeting are those members that fail to follow the basic rules.

Personally, I couldn't care less if you slipped in the occasional abbreviation (e.g. TBH, LOL, ROTFL etc), but when the whole post becomes text talk then it will be a warning. There are a core number of people who just fail to grasp the simple rule: just write in plain English.

The other rule that seems to have bought a lot of attention is needless posts. Everyone occasionally posts the odd lol or smilie which is fine - its just when the posts start to be a load of "i know", and "me too" constantly that we need to take action. This also means that the thread normally goes off topic as well.

The main reason we have decided that enough is enough is that many of our older members are getting put off by childish posts and we have had numerous requests for the rules to be enforced. The board is open to everyone; just please abide by the rules and it makes everyones life easier.

[Meh]

yeh but what im saying is, how are we supposed to know what we are allowed to use and what we are not allowed to use?

We're not enforcing the Queen's English, and there are no concrete rules to what is and isn't allowed. The rule is no text talk, so just avoid it. I understand that posting to forums is done in informal language so I'm expecting the odd slang and abbreviations - after all, that is the beauty of language. But remember, this is a forum with a global audience, not a one to one text message you are writing.