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

You have been using this site for over three years. You enter a discussion on the matter of something which affects this website, puts up a bar to communication, and under an interpretation of the rules could be deemed against the house rules.

You find your opinions belittled by those on the other side of the argument, and you find spurious counter arguments imlicitly criticising you for things you didn't actually say.

IS your repsonse to this to:

a) continue arguing with those who have no interest in even listening to your opinions

b) Say "oh, Ho, Ho, that's so funny seeing my opinions on important matters with regard to the site belittled and ridiculed

c) Unsubscribe from the conversation.

Answers on a postcard

Depends on the arguement.

If it's a rather silly arguemnet then you just take the punches and give them back....

Then again if it's serious I'll probably take the punches and give them back with an annoying quip or joke since I make fun of myself more than anyone else does.... After all I have to put up with Psycorp on this site...

What is the context of this Egon?

Yes, what's the context?

This I'm guessing: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F1833614?thread=433223

The txtspk/normal people debate?

Considering most of the txtspk seems to have disapeared I suggest you take a long break (about a day) from the argument.

I err think Pyscorp was just fooling around egon... he isnt one for over use of Txtspk insofar as I am aware...

Nope, in fact, in the project mentioned, I acted as the control because apart from the odd 'lol' or 'brb' interspersed in my MSN conversations. I didn't know Egon had such a downer on the text speak.

However, should you recognise it as a facet of the language, yet still want to ban it as it acts as a barrier in conversations, you should eliminate typos (as I stated) and also use of dialect in postings, as they are also potential stumbling blocks in such a widespread community relying on the written word in one of its myriad forms.

Psyc.

As is probably widely known onsite, I hate text-speak. Hate it, despise it, loathe it, detest all those pathetic people who use it, am generally appalled at the degradation of the English Language and teenagers who seem to regard it as the norm in written conversation.

However, in this instance, I think Egon is over-reacting. Take a step back, breathe deeply, and for Christ's sake stop yourself turning into one of those muppets who have nothing better to do than whinge about people they have met online.

B

I agree...

*Buys Master B an *

Hear, hear. Although I think he may have just lost his a bit.

I posted there about acronyms, I hope that will entice him back.

And I just got on my high horse.

Wonder if this is serious enough yet??

He's nowt abowt so we'll have to wait and see.

all around then....

I hate text speak. I just try to avoid those who use it and ignore it if I can't. I wouldn't want to ban dialect though. I like it in context. I don't know why I should discriminate against text speak and not dialect though. I don't see how you could ban typos. Was that a joke and I missed it?

Fair enough, I'll take it I was overreacting then.

To be honest, I wasn't posting here to stir that argument up. The plan was to pose the hypothetical scenario as a matter of principles, rather than the specifics, and see what other people might have done. I didn't intend to bring the specifics in.

But someone else did that for me

I won't be going back to that conversation though. i've said my piece, and whether people want to acknowledge or respond to it, we'll see, but I'm not going to be posting there again.

Anyway, Ive just stuck an entry in peer Review if anyone wants to read it,

And I ran spellcheck.

Oh, and, just tyo amke one last point, you described it as a language of it's own, or something of that description, not as a facet of language. That was the point I was running with.

And about dialect- If, theoretically, I were to post here entirely in Mackem dialect, with no trtanslation- all Why Aye Man, Haway and bairns, I'd expect to be asked to explain what the hell I was blithering about.

Personally, I detest txtspk, especially when typed all in capitals. I experienced actual, physical pain when trying to read Boxing Baboon's conversation with a friend - when I was younger a child psychiatrist thought I might be hyperlexic, which is perhaps why I'm so sensitive to words and language. It doesn't mean I don't make typos or spelling/grammatical errors, but it does mean that when I see them, they stand out like sore thumbs, and when someone uses non-standard English intentionally and unrelentingly, it jars me severely.

I imagine that a lot of other people have similar problems. Also, I'm lucky enough to be able to /read/ the stuff (it's an unpleasant experience), some researchers can't begin to divine the meaning of 'CU L8R 2 GT FUD.' (You see how ugly it is? I know it's non-standard txt-spk, but the real thing is every bit as horrible and mistakes just as common.) Therefore, I'd be all in favour of politely asking researchers not to use it here.

I understand that plenty of researchers are dyslexic. Well, that doesn't bother me. Frankly, I find it far easier (and far nicer) to decipher typos or slightly mixed-up sentences. Besides, simply missing out vowels and using weird, contrived abbreviations is hardly going to help them improve their written English.

- Jordan

I detest text speak, one of the things I detest most about myself is my shakey grasp on the English Language. Like it or not people judge you on your English, especially on the net - and having badly puncuated, mispelt English marks you out as either thick, careless or dyslexic. I'm actually a combination of the first two.

What annoys me most is that two pscyhologists have said that I'm 'not dyslexic, - just bad at spelling', but people instantly assume that because I can't spell I'm dyslexic.

Well, I don't have a problem with your English. And even if your post were riddled with mistakes (which it isn't), I wouldn't mind - at least you've tried.

And I certainly don't believe that everyone who can't spell/punctuate is dyslexic. Some people get it, some don't. Not all of them have a condition. It's just a skill, and it doesn't mean diddly-squat about intelligence.

Actually, one of my favorite researchers here is Dr. Anthea. She's dyslexic and sometimes comes up with the most amazing spellings, but she /tries/ - she doesn't chicken out and go into txt mode. Frankly, I don't care if she can't spell/punctuate/write grammatically - she's very capable, very smart and, indeed, perfectly comprehensible.

She's a better poet than me, that's for sure; did you see 'The Raven' in ?

- Jordan

No Egon you wouldn't be asked... at least from me...


Although there is no proper translation for Why Aye Man.... Since it doublesas a form of 'of course' and an exclaimation of disbelief...