The use of acronyms on Gransnet

My Husband is hopeless ( and quite funny) with acronyms. He couldn't get GSOH for ages and came up with anything from GCHQ to Gas Central Heating. One of my favourites, not a Gransnet one, taught me by Ds, is NFI, not flipping invited, or what you will.

I love the way some of you really go out of your way to make 'newbies' feel unwelcome.

It reminds me forcibly of the old TES (Times Educational Supplement) 'Opinion' forum, a jungle into which you ventured at your peril..

We love Newbies here MaizieD but they must take us as they find us and join in with our peculiarities or not!

We love Newbies here MaizieD

You had me well fooled on this thread...

Well, to be fair some of the newbies didn't come over as being very friendly either...

Maizie, I'm sure you'd make me very welcome in your own home but you wouldn't like me to start rearranging your ornaments!

kittylester One of the things I learned when we moved to our village 31 years ago, and I would think it applies to any community, is be friendly, smile and accept, and if you don't like the way things are done , don't jump in with both feet or rush to condemn or criticise. "Softly, softly catchee monkey " as I think they used to say.
I apologise if anybody feels "unwelcome" on account of anything I have said, but oldies are as entitled as newbies to an opinion and also entitled to respond to accusations of cliqueyness.

Lord, MaizieD, I was on the TES Opinion forum for years. It was a bearpit! I can remember one pillock poster in particular who thought he ruled the site and attacked me suddenly about something pretty innocuous I'd said in my first post, two years earlier He must have been taking notes! There's really nothing like that on here

I'm bothered by the use of the word "acronym". An acronym is a word in its own right, as well as being an abbreviation for something else.

What are being discussed here are abbreviations, not acronyms.

Taking my pedant's hat off, I would say that I quickly learned the abbreviations that are peculiar to gransnet, and I find that most of the other usual ones found on the internet are quite easy to decipher. It does bother me the first time I come across one and have to work it out or look it up, but from then on it's fine.

I realised that many people aren't trained secretaries and find typing a word like "daughter" or, worse still, "daughter-in-law" quite a chore. It would be a pity if that stopped them from contributing when they may well have something important to say.

You don't have to use them. I sometimes type out 'daughter', especially if I am talking to someone who might not be that forum savvy.

Was hardly worth starting a thread over really. But all reasonable threads on forums are welcome by the site owners. (I read that on a website about 'how to run a forum' )

An acronym is an abbreviation used as a word and formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word, usually individual letters (as in NATO or laser) and sometimes syllables (as in Benelux)

Well, well. I knew about NATO and BENELUX but not "laser"
LAL (live and learn) as nobody in their right mind says

If you survived the TES site MaisieD you'll find GN a dawdle.

Incidentally 'welcome'

As a new member here, I am confused by all the acronyms too!

Welcome Megram - confused is fine. There's a list of the common ones at the bottom of some page or other, and if you don't get it, just ask

It's the emoticons that used to stump me but they've made these easier for geriatrics to use lately more user friendly now

I only recently discovered how to post a bunch of flowers. Now I've an extensive range of possibilities at my fingertips! ?

Bit late in commenting. but yes they drive me nuts as well. Admitted I dont come on to the site very often. I did get a list of the breakdown of abbreviations, but got fed up looking most of them up. And I agree dont like the darling thing

I regret starting this thread, and very surprised at some of the responses. I was not trying to change GN, or to criticise others, just stating that I found it frustrating to be unable to understand, or read with ease, some of the messages. I wondered if others felt that way, and from the responses many do.

But some of the responses from the pro acronyms camp were at best patronising and at worst rude and antagonistic. So it is apparently OK for someone to post:-

I think there are some b****y rude and judgemental posters on this thread who are talking through their AHs.

Surely this is far more questionable than anything I posted, which incidentally I did not consider to be moaning. And who is actually the rudest, me or the above quoted poster?

I thought this would be a friendly, supportive site. But now I am not so sure.

but you are happy to employ your username 2old4hotpants?
Surely by your reckoning that should be too old for hotpants?

You beat me to it Alea, I was going to ask the same of Too Old For Hotpants (goodness, that took ages to type).

Acronym definition: an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word
Yes, it usually forms another pronounceable word; some on here remind me of DGD's favourite joke: 'What do you call a fish with no eyes?' - 'FSH'

As we are being asked - I don't mind them, they take some getting used to but all add to the charm that is Gransnet! .
If I were handwriting a letter or even emailing a friend I wouldn't use them, but I think they are fine on here.
Anyone who objects could skip the posts which include them IYSWIM, although you could LTP.

Nobody's forcing you, or anyone else, to use any acronyms or abbreviations, 2old4hotpants.

When I first joined Gransnet I just accepted them and soon learned what they meant. It does seem a bit contrary to hope that a website will be friendly and supportive (which this is, in the main) but to start a thread complaining about a very small aspect of it.

I think kittylester summed it up well in her post at 11.18.
As for being unable to understand the acronyms used on GN there is a comprehensive list under the section "Acronyms" (the clue is in the name) .
There are other conventions which are equally optional, such as the use of bold for usernames and italics for posts quoted .
If somebody doesn't like them, fine, but don't be surprised if wading in criticising what has been standard practice since GN's (Gransnet's) inception goes down like a lead balloon. EOM

If there are indeed a lot of newbies recently joined, and they dont seem to like the Acronyms as they are called by Gransnet, then dont use them.
Most people are quite sheeplike, so in time, who knows? They may quietly die out.

The Acronyms that is . oops sorry

Yes, that was rather an ambivalent statement, obieone!

obieone

When does one stop being a newbie and become an oldie?

Just asking.