h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

er... I quess that should be x_

wow! this thread has run away in my absence.

captain kebab: that was a great h2g2 recap. as a fellow pre-beeb researcher, i remember all of that well.

diddy: many pages back, you asked us not to judge people because of the way they type. i hope you didn't mean me! anyway, i wanted to point out that there's a difference between people who can't spell because of dyslexia or the simple inability to spell and the people who simply choose to use textspeak. i hold no grudges against either, but the latter i tend not to take as seriously. i know it's kind of judgemental, but in the cyber world, your typing is all we have to judge on.

and for those who hate people who don't capitalize... i understand. i swear, i don't do it because of laziness. it's a stylistic thing. like e.e. cummings.

Sea

No of course i didn't mean you! I wasn't singling anyone out! Just that it seemed on the whole the majority of established h2g2er's were commenting that they didn't like txt spk so i just said please don't jusge the people who do it!

I've actually decided not to use txt speak at all n just keep to the odd abbreviation here or there but not cus people in here say they don't like it but cus i chose to.

I picked up bad habit's from Leisuredistrict n its only now i can see my typing was abysmal on there.

For the people who do have the keyboards on the digibox it is partly laziness that they use txt spk but also bad habit's.

I think i'm proof enough that you can write in full english but it DOES take me longer to type.

If i'm talking to my friends in my own (n there) personal spaces i will continue to use my abbreviations but in threads like this i will use proper english

Diddy!

I do the same thing, Diddy.

and a for you for sticking to your guns despite such opposition.

Phew, that was a long read!*wipes virtual sweat off virtual forehead*

Just thought I'd add my ...

I'm one of the many 'foreigners' at h2g2 - that is, people to whom English is a foreign language - and I find textspeak extremely difficult to understand.

Sometimes I can figure out by reading the letters out loud (like 'u' and 'r') but most of the time I just don't bother, because it takes too long, and sometimes I won't get it even if I try...

...which has the effect that I ignore such postings. This is a pity because one of the things I like about h2g2 is the wonderful mix of people. Differences in age, profession, nationality or sexual preference simply don't seem to matter. By using textspeak researchers will miss out on a lot of interesting conversations and will also exclude a lot of readers, much in the way I'd do if I were to post in Swedish.

I will (and do, each day) make the effort to read and understand 'proper' English, but textspeak is just too much trouble (especially since the postings don't seem to contain much apart from an exchange of greetings).