Too Many Acronymns!

[mesaboy2]

Thanks for the disrespectful eye roll.

So you are saying that it's fine to use abbreviations on message boards where people may not understand those abbreviations, but outside of a message board, is where you draw the line on using abbreviations that people may not understand?

Disney message boards attract Disney fans, many of them true fanatics. Disney parks attract everybody. There is a major difference in the audience. I post here (and answer everywhere) with the audience in mind.

 

[Laura66]

What is an OP?

;-)

 

[dae3dae3]

I know you're trying to be cute, but you're the only one who answered that way. Four people gave her the actual answer. The only time I've seen anyone link that thread to answer a questions is when the question is, "Where can I find a list of acronyms?"

It was pretty obviously a joke. Thus the row of dancing smilies. I posted it after the real answer had been given at least once.

I could start handing out money in this thread at this point and a few people would still be trying to vilify me for it.

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

Of course I'm going to respond more in a controversial thread I started. I took a trip in 2011 so I posted some then. I'm going in December so I'm back more often now. In between then and now I occasionally visited and posted just to keep up on major changes at Disney. Also, yes I am getting quite a kick out of how offended people get when you dare to suggest something that will improve their forum. Especially when it is such an easy and low effort change. You'd think I kicked their dog. I like dogs. I wouldn't do that.

I had quoted you saying you didn't mind being flamed and my point was because you enjoy it. You accused people of flaming you but what exactly is it you are doing. You were calling an entire group of people lazy because they use acronyms. You have also made the implication that they don't care if they can be understood. I don't care about the acronyms one way or another I do think you made this thread a very unfriendly one.

 

[Jennasis]

Thanks for the disrespectful eye roll.

So you are saying that it's fine to use abbreviations on message boards where people may not understand those abbreviations, but outside of a message board, is where you draw the line on using abbreviations that people may not understand?

I think they're saying, on THIS message board, abbreviations are used, unlike in real life at Disney...and if one is going to be a part of this community, then one should probably familiarize oneself with the way things are done here, including learning the lingo.

Welcome to the boards.

 

[Disfan1968]

 

[dae3dae3]

I had quoted you saying you didn't mind being flamed and my point was because you enjoy it. You accused people of flaming you but what exactly is it you are doing. You were calling an entire group of people lazy because they use acronyms. You have also made the implication that they don't care if they can be understood. I don't care about the acronyms one way or another I do think you made this thread a very unfriendly one.

I've been personally attacked over and over in this thread. In each case I've responded with further explanation and clarification. I'm not the one getting angry and setting the negative tone. Especially in the second half of the thread where I've been trying to just answer questions and respond to posts. Many of which could be paraphrased to telling me to shut up and go away. If there is anyone making an unfriendly tone it isn't me. I keep making reasonable explanations and getting vitriol in return. No explanation other than this is the way we've always done it and if you don't like it you can go away and never return.

Why type CBR instead of Caribbean Beach Resort when making the title of a thread? Especially since you will almost certainly get more responses or page views for your thread. You can't convince me the couple extra seconds if you're a slow typer is really that much effort. Once you've defined the subject then CBR to your hearts content. You're in the clear.

The whole idea of starting a thread is to get page views, responses, or both depending on what the subject it. Either asking a question, disseminating information, or opening a discussion.

If you're answering a question by someone who is obviously new then it is just silly to respond with an answer they have to look up or ask you what you meant. Sure, they might respond if they can't figure it out but many people won't. Also, the lurkers won't respond and the forum just became less valuable to them. Some may not think that is important but traffic is what keeps this site alive. There are more of them than there are members and posters.

Edit: People may not like it but the page views by non-members are the product and the heavy posters are the workers. Advertising is what keeps this forum alive and they pay depending on traffic. The actual posters are the smallest part of that traffic. So saying to heck with the newbies or occasional visitor is really not good if you want to keep your forum alive.

 

[alc571]

What is an OP? ;-)

Original (or originating) Poster...

 

[Jennasis]

I've been personally attacked over and over in this thread. In each case I've responded with further explanation and clarification. I'm not the one getting angry and setting the negative tone. Especially in the second half of the thread where I've been trying to just answer questions and respond to posts. Many of which could be paraphrased to telling me to shut up and go away. If there is anyone making an unfriendly tone it isn't me. I keep making reasonable explanations and getting vitriol in return. No explanation other than this is the way we've always done it and if you don't like it you can go away and never return.

Why type CBR instead of Caribbean Beach Resort when making the title of a thread? Especially since you will almost certainly get more responses or page views for your thread. You can't convince me the couple extra seconds if you're a slow typer is really that much effort. Once you've defined the subject then CBR to your hearts content. You're in the clear.

The whole idea of starting a thread is to get page views, responses, or both depending on what the subject it. Either asking a question, disseminating information, or opening a discussion.

If you're answering a question by someone who is obviously new then it is just silly to respond with an answer they have to look up or ask you what you meant. Sure, they might respond if they can't figure it out but many people won't. .Also, the lurkers won't respond and the forum just became less valuable to them. Some may not think that is important but traffic is what keeps this site alive There are more of them than there are members and posters.

The site has been doing just fine as is for the past, what, 15 years? The only thing I can suggest for you is to BE the change. Post the way you would like others too and perhaps it will catch on (probably not, but honestly there isn't any other alternative, because as you can see admonishing people for not doing it your way hasn't gone over very well...you called people who don't do it your way "LAZY" as early as post #5, and you wonder why there is vitriol in their responses?).

 

[alc571]

I can't believe this has generated 6 pages of posts.... If you don't want to use abbreviations, don't. Just put a note on your post that you don't know the abbreviations, and people are happy to help you. I generally look at the number of posts the originating poster has, and whether or not they are using abbreviations. If you are, I assume you know them and I use them in return. If you have a low post count, and are writing things out, then I will too. Or I will at least define it (ie. Port Orleans Riverside (POR)) so I don't have to write it out endlessly. Once you've been on the site for a while, the majority become obvious, or you can figure them out in the context of the post. I've been on here for years, and I still don't know them all.

 

[bryanb]

I'm relatively new to these boards. In the spirit of Disney courtesy, I can definitely understand why newcomers would find acronyms frustrating. I certainly have (and continue to) struggle with them.

For a sociological perspective: special language defines who is an "insider" and who is "outsider" -- and I kind of accepted that I'm an outsider until I learn the language.

Yes, one does save time by writing ADR instead of "reservation" but that is a conscious decision that it's more important to save time talking to your peers than to be understood by the Internet community at large.

This community has decided how it is going to operate, and I'm okay with that. We want lurkers and casual readers to "belong" and take the effort to learn the acronyms -- instead of adapting our writing for the open Internet.

There is honestly nothing wrong with that, but it's always interesting to see why outsiders find things frustrating.

 

[Angel Ariel]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1660743

Notice that the first response the person who asked what an ADR got was a simple "Advanced Dining Reservation" - no snark, no go read or google...just a sincere answer to a sincere question.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

I've been on the Dis since '06, and still don't know or like all of the acronyms. People have 1000's of posts with hundreds of thousands of words, but typing out Test Track is too much?

 

[Angel Ariel]

I've been personally attacked over and over in this thread. In each case I've responded with further explanation and clarification. I'm not the one getting angry and setting the negative tone. Especially in the second half of the thread where I've been trying to just answer questions and respond to posts. Many of which could be paraphrased to telling me to shut up and go away. If there is anyone making an unfriendly tone it isn't me. I keep making reasonable explanations and getting vitriol in return. No explanation other than this is the way we've always done it and if you don't like it you can go away and never return.

Vitriol? Where? There really hasn't been much (if any) name calling on this thread...unless you're counting where you have said those who use acronyms are lazy.

*Most* of the people on this thread have simply said, yes, there are acronyms - if you don't know what something means, ask someone and there are many people who will happily respond to help you out. If you want to take those posts as telling you to "shut up and go away," then that's on you.

So saying to heck with the newbies or occasional visitor is really not good if you want to keep your forum alive.

Again - *most* people in this thread have not said anything of the sort.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I've been on the Dis since '06, and still don't know or like all of the acronyms. People have 1000's of posts with hundreds of thousands of words, but typing out Test Track is too much?

Then why have acronyms anywhere? Seriously...it's not like the DIS is the only place there are acronyms. My profession is littered with acronyms, and so is my husband's. The expectation in the profession is that you know them, or you learn them. They aren't always fully written out and then used in acronym form, and it's up to each person to be able to know what they are. Generally speaking, there usually isn't a handy list to point to when you need to know what something is either.

Heck, there are acronyms/initialisms in dealing with medical care...I just gave my daughter 2 vaccines yesterday - DTAP and HIB. Both initialisms/acronyms. My dr's office does give me a paper explaining them - *after* she has received the shot...if I want to know what it means beforehand, then it's my responsibility to google it and figure it out.

I don't understand why it is unreasonable to expect someone to ask what something means if they don't understand?

 

[dae3dae3]

I don't understand why it is unreasonable to expect someone to ask what something means if they don't understand?

I don't understand why it is unreasonable to expect someone to use context to decide if the abbreviation is appropriate or not in that situation. And thus we have completed the circle.

Thread Title option 1
Caribbean Beach Resort = 100% of English speaking people understand what you mean.

Thread Title option 2
CBR = Some number lower than 100% of English speaking understand what you mean.

Somebody please explain to me how Option 2 is better than Option 1. That is essentially the argument. Don't just tell me to go away or that is the way it is. Explain it to me. The only possible argument that I can see is it takes longer but the time difference is negligible since you only type the title once for the entire thread.

 

[bella2117]

this went bad pretty fast lol. Last time i logged in it was still on page one lol

 

[dae3dae3]

this went bad pretty fast lol. Last time i logged in it was still on page one lol

Yeah, people should learn not to feed the troll. That OP is being a jerk.

 

[Jennasis]

I don't understand why it is unreasonable to expect someone to use context to decide if the abbreviation is appropriate or not in that situation. And thus we have completed the circle.

Thread Title option 1
Caribbean Beach Resort = 100% of English speaking people understand what you mean.

Thread Title option 2
CBR = Some number lower than 100% of English speaking understand what you mean.

Somebody please explain to me how Option 2 is better than Option 1. That is essentially the argument. Don't just tell me to go away or that is the way it is. Explain it to me. The only possible argument that I can see is it takes longer but the time difference is negligible since you only type the title once for the entire thread.

I suppose it depends on the question one might have. If one uses the initials "CBR" in their thread title, it would seem to me that this is someone who understands the way the DIS works and is looking for an answer from other long time DIS'ers...long time DIS'ers are likely to have an answer. Sure, a total newbie might also have an answer, but I suppose I would put more stock in an answer from someone who'd been around a while (long enough to know what CBR stood for).

On the other hand...it really is what it is and nobody has to explain why they choose to engage in a discussion in a particular way to you. You aren't going to change the way it's been done around here for over 15 years...at least not by complaining and calling people lazy. I continue to suggest you be the change you want to see and read/post more often. That should help at you get the hang of all the language used at least. Think of it like an adventure...like learning a foreign language! I hope this helps.

FWIW, there are a great many discussion boards out there. My DH belongs to a few IT related ones, some music/record collecting forums etc, and I belong to a few other non-Disney ones. They all have vernacular/slang/abbreviations that no other human being in the world would understand unless they'd either been a member for a while and gotten the gist of things or took the few seconds to look over the FAQ page they all have that explains what those abbreviations are for.

 

[surferdave]

I'm gonna maintain my MO. Hope that's OK.