No reason not try it simply because it might confuse itself, despite some people's opnion. It could stop initials. That would be the objective. It would do what some people would like done.

Sorry.

It will confuse itself.  Hence why we're not.

How about this:

Like on some forums you have a [More smilies] link, we have a [acronyms] link. This pops up a dialogue with all the commonly used acronyms (filter by first letter). When you select one it inserts the full [acronym=xxxxxxxxxx]XXX[/acronym] at the current insertion point.

IMO you got that acronym wrong it should be IaMO

Unfortunately, enabling the filter for acronyms could be even more confusing for some users.

It would be especially problematic where there are multiple acronyms that might apply, or even words that are also an acronym.

B.

All this talk of pop-up windows and automated systems that could recognise an acronym are all well and good but we (the collective we) need a reference point, a glossary for common terms that we use at PlusNet and that some a bit too arcane or dare I say it, geeky?

I am proposing we start off with a flat-file reference a-z in the official support page area of the www site.  Once we've got that up and running we can look at perhaps smarter ways of delievring the knowledge... but for right now I want to see teh basic questions addressed with content.

So.. who's got a list of technical terms you think we should have easy to understand explanations of?

What I had in mind was a filter which prevented initials being used in these forums, as the swear filter prevents swear words being used. If anyone used initials they would be marked as 'censored' in the same way as swear words are prevented from appearing.
The elimination of the use in the PlusNet website is a matter for the author. This seems to have been recognised by Peter Jackson.
It is not surprising that things get misunderstood, they frequently are.
The idea is to support the plain english concept where acronyms etc do not get used in these forums
I am not looking for a translation, just elimination. There would be no filter 'fooling itself' it would just make them disappear.
That's what the swear filter is designed for isn't it? Have I made myself clear, I hope so.

Banning a[censored]nyms is a silly idea - unless you want to drive people away from these forums.

Jelv,
YDKWYATA.

Now Now Bob Jelve is a Bright Spark, he will kick your but saying things like that 

Bob,

IRTID!

Bob if you want to see some not very plain english try looking at the Games Forum postings, or less so the VOIP trial posting,  both or some foreign language to me

GDHERTYYUYTEY



I like this game.

Watt?

From Google

Your search - GDHERTYYUYTEY - did not match any documents.


From Yahoo

We did not find results for: GDHERTYYUYTEY. Try the suggestions below or type a new query above.

IMO it would be crazy to ban the use of the letters imo.

S[[Censored]]n doesn't really make the forums easier to understand now does it.

I'm amazed that people continue with such ill thought out arguments.

Would we ban ADSL too?

In fact, I just visited the Plain English Campaign Homepage.

Excerpt from their news feed:


Would it be somehow clearer to say



In fact their website is littered with acronyms and initials, from a very brief visit I noted these: OBE, FAQ, UK,  USA, PO, SK, PQ.

I think its very disingenuous to crowbar their cause to fit an ill conceived crusade against people abbreviating their prose.

Incidentally, the Plain English Campaign recognises that sometimes industry specific terms are required and indeed provide guides to pension terms, financial terms and legal phrases.

Perhaps the most sensible crusade may well be to get the Plain English Campaign to publish a guide to Computer terms, and/or a guide to Broadband and Internet terms - maybe even a list of common abbreviations and acronyms might be useful from them.

Or, perhaps, rather than emburdening *them* with the task of creating and maintaining such a list, pehaps it might be better to work with PlusNet to create the same?

Just a thought - seems folks are approaching from very different angles, although everybody seems to recognise that their is a potential issue.

A real shame people seem too short sighted to work on a solution though.


/Dons flameproof jacket....

James_H,
When you say ,

I agree with you, I think the solution is an easy one, all you need to do is to stop using this shorthand use of initials instead of perhaps indicating that you are an 'old hand'.
I ask you realise that when you and others use this shorthand (is it laziness?), there are a number of people who do not understand you. It is akin to backslang, which is often used to stop people outside of a special group from knowing what is being said. I do not think you are trying to stop folk understanding you, I think that you may be indicating that you are an old, experienced person. You are, even if you do not intend to, using this shorthand and consequently not being understood. You will be aware that Midnight Caller has a problem which he is to be commended for coping with. There are others who are not dyslexic, who suffer from your use of shorthand.
I offer a personal thought, I would think that as a moderator you would be in the forefront of enabling novices understand what is being said. please stop using this backslang.
regards,
Bob Milton