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From: sean@thomson.desy.de (Sean Willard)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Date: 21 Nov 1994 05:06:47 GMT

-Pope,DavidL. wrote:
:
: I discussed this with my POSSLQ (who is black) and we came up with an
: explanation:

No. Nononononono. This will not do.

We in AFU have standards to keep up. One of course is the long-standing ban on sm*leys, the reasons for which are given in http://tafkac.org/afu/smileys/ {smileys.on.afu,smileys.ray.depew}.

Another lesser-known one is the BOA, or Ban On Acronyms.

We have all seen a certain set of trendy net.acronyms -- YMMV, BTW, FWIW, ad nauseum. It is claimed that these are useful shortcuts both to writing and to reading. This is undoubtedly why they have been used in literature both high- and lowbrow for centuries, just like sm*leys. Yeah. Right. They originated on the net, and their only reasonable justification is that they allow the writer to save a few precious keystrokes in typing common phrases. Well, we here in AFU pride ourselves on taking a little extra time and care with our posts, the same extra time and care that renders sm*leys unnecessary.

Acronyms have their uses. Witness the use of "AFU" above. This is short for a somewhat lengthy but unique expression (I will not insult your intelligence by spelling out for you what it stands for). But a net.acronym filling in for an ordinary English phrase is simply jarring and obscure, and all too often is simply an attempt to be trendy and "in with the in crowd". We are intelligent adults here, even those who have but recently escaped from high school (you know who you are -- Hey! Put down that cane!), and we come from many different walks of life many different parts of the world. Some of us have indeed been on the net for donkey's years and have seen all sorts of hip usages come and go; others may have laid hands on a computer keyboard for the first time last year. We on AFU are not simply a gathering of net.dweebs, and so for many of us, these net.acronyms are obfuscatory, as well as unnecessary and unpleasant.

As in many other media consisting of the printed word, acronyms can be useful, provided certain rules are followed. An important rule is that when you introduce an acronym, unless it's one that in the context is well-known (e.g. "USA" in an American newspaper, "AFU" in this newsgroup), inform the reader of the meaning. Pick up any newspaper or magazine to see applications of this rule. For example:

: I discussed this with my POSSLQ (Person Owning Several Similar Long
: Quilts) ...

Thank you for your attention, and if you fail to comply with the BOA, we'll send Ewan The Kirk to induce a Kerr singularity in your living room.

--
Sean Willard

                 '"Simply mention cunnilingus and Ice Cream in
                 the same sentence and Jason Heimba[u]gh is
                 bound to include you in his .signature file -
                 ["]Derek Tearne" - Derek Tearne" - Andy Wardl[e]y'
                                     -- Vicky Robinson