411 - You've reached information. How may I help you?

juanicoheal · Post by **juanicoheal** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:25 pm

Premise: This thread is intended for you to ask all those niggling questions about stuff you read on the eplaya.

Philosophy: There are no stupid questions – only stupid answers

Ask anything, everything. Definitions. Directions. The eplaya is a big open space with tons of information, and exciting conversations, here’s your 411.

Note to experienced eplayans – please help out. I know your ‘links’ lists are extensive, and your knowledge of the workings of the eplaya is immensely valuable.

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In some threads, definitions of commonly used terms have been requested. I’ll start be addressing a few that have been noticed lately. I do not intend on passing myself off as an authority, but only someone who wishes to help. If anyone has better definitions, please contribute them. HOWEVER – nastiness will not be tolerated here.

“SOCK” – aka ‘sock puppet’
n. an alter ego, secondary alias - used by some people for a variety of reasons.
Eg. “Punch and Judy” – everyone knows there’s only one puppeteer, but his hands are having a fight…..
Also
sock puppet n. [Usenet: from the act of placing a sock over your hand and talking to it and pretending it's talking back] In Usenet parlance, a pseudo through which the puppeteer posts follow-ups to their own original message to give the appearance that a number of people support the views held in the original message.
(Reference – The Jargon Dictionary)

“PLONK” –
v. ignore, avoid
‘plonker’ – a modification available to bulletin boards/discussion groups to allow users to ignore specific threads, and users.

“TOS” – Terms of Service
n. the agreement you electronically signed by becoming a member of this community
-If you require further clarification, scroll down to the bottom of this page, or any eplaya page and click the link.

“CG” – Community Guidelines
n. The code of conduct that has been adopted by members of this community
Everyone should read this. It’s like the Survival Guide of the eplaya.
-Again if you require further clarification, there’s a link at the bottom of every eplaya page.

“Flame”
1. vi. To post an email message intended to insult and provoke. 2. vi. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude. 3. vt. Either of senses 1 or 2, directed with hostility at a particular person or people. 4. n. An instance of flaming. When a discussion degenerates into useless controversy, one might tell the participants "Now you're just flaming" or "Stop all that flamage!" to try to get them to cool down (so to speak).
(Reference – The Jargon Dictionary)

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Some things for which hard-and-fast definitions do not exist:
It
Burner
The burningman spirit
God
There are many great discussions on the board for each of these – use the search function in the header menu – you may find one that plays to your sensibilities. I'll dig some example up, should a seeker request.

Bob A · Post by **Bob A** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:56 pm

ok here's one for you. A lot of people use short cuts when typing like,

IMHO which I assume is "In my honest opinion"
Or
FWIW "for what it’s worth"

Some of them really drive me crazy how about one quick list of all the short cuts it would help me keep what little sanity I have until I reach the playa.

Thanks

Bob A

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 6:29 pm

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/text ... ations.asp

III · Post by **III** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 6:31 pm

some are ubiquitous. beware that using "lol" is on par with using smileys as far as communication skills are concerned.

some that are particular to the eplaya:

itym: i thinik you mean
brcllc: black rock city limited liability corporation/company.
bmorg: unflattering term for the brcllc
dpw: department of public works - hardest working and least appreciated of the burning man volunteers, which may explain their bad attitudes.

JoLo · Post by **JoLo** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 8:07 am

III wrote:beware that using "lol" is on par with using smileys as far as communication skills are concerned.

No criticism here, just simply wondering why smileys (and "lol") are so frowned upon. I thought the whole reason people started using them was to compensate for the lack of body language cues that make sarcasm, etc, obvious when talking face-to-face, especially when the words alone can be misleading or interpreted in more than one way.

Zephryus · Post by **Zephryus** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 8:23 am

They used to be seen that way, but at some point people started abusing them to such an extent that they are now seen as cliche. Imagine having a conversation with someone who constantly gave the thumbs up or peace sign instead of talking, or did it every time they said something. By now it's become a joke but people still do it.

Many experienced net users also lay most of this at the feet of AOL, and their gift of chat rooms to the computer illiterate. And the fourteen year old kids who just discovered the internet but haven't yet learned to write a coherent F%*@ing sentence. Ahem.

Last Real Burner · Post by **Last Real Burner** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:11 am

What Abuse!

What!

III · Post by **III** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:12 am

to add to that - body language cues are subconcious - there's no real way to properly translate them. anything that's part of your concious process can be expressed through words.

there have been millions of books written, in millions of styles, all without the use of emoticons, and a huge percentage of them still manage to convey spirit and emotion.

(on further thought, some cues are conscious. after all, it's possible to force yourself to smile, if you think about it. which is kind of how smileys and "lol" come across - as forced smiles or laughter. just as with a forced smile, though, it may not actually give the impression you intend.)

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:20 am

I must give credit to Last Real Burner for creative use of smileys, though. I’ve used ‘em periodically and probably still will from time to time, but I do like words so much better...

Damn it... I just scrolled down after pasting this from Word and see all these little greeny fuckers jumpin' all over the place... They weren't there when I started writing this praising you.......

there have been millions of books written, in millions of styles, all without the use of emoticons, and a huge percentage of them still manage to convey spirit and emotion

Bravo, Trey

juanicoheal · Post by **juanicoheal** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:54 am

Thank you for the comic interlude, now back to our regular scheduled program.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:59 am

I have a personal grudge with the Emoticons- they destroyed my homeworld, forcing me to take refuge out here beyond the Altoid belt.

juanicoheal · Post by **juanicoheal** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:13 am

..... and for those with questions about Domes, ROBOTLAND's thread:
Domes in the Default World

is a GREAT place to start!

madmatt · Post by **madmatt** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:42 am

III wrote:...using "lol" is on par with using smileys as far as communication skills are concerned...

...so, point of this thread was 411. What is lol? (I lived in Amsterdam, and in Dutch "lol" means fun. ha.)

juanicoheal · Post by **juanicoheal** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:45 am

"lol" has been use for some time now, to show you thought something was funny.

"Laughs Out Loud" is the expansion of the abbreviation.

Bob A · Post by **Bob A** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:03 am

Now that makes more sense I was reading another thread that had lol all over it and all I could think of was lots of love which made no sense in context so I just ignored them which really ticked me off.

Bob A

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:07 pm

Now that makes more sense I was reading another thread that had lol all over it and all I could think of was lots of love which made no sense in context so I just ignored them which really ticked me off.

Umm... Let me guess, it was a post by Dj big E ?

Zane5100 · Post by **Zane5100** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:09 pm

III · Post by **III** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:09 pm

don't think so - he pretty much sticks with lmao, and i've finally realized that he's managed to turn it into an art form.

(and for those confused, and since this is the 411 thread: lmao=laughing my ass off.)

DVD Burner · Post by **DVD Burner** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:26 pm

I'm going to leave you guys alone for awhile if I can. (it's really gonna be tough.

) I gotta give y'all a break.
but before I do that I just wanted to say, I thought dirty bird was best at this stuff. so maybe y'all can help me out because I am totally lost trying to translate this one. here it is:

dirty bird wrote:OIC. AFAICT IHAFC how we got to this WOMBAT, except that I didn’t RTFM. YKWIM, could we PPL KISS? Remember BOGAHICA! BTW, I don’t need a BTTH to learn. Sometimes we make EWAGs and its FM. Other times, I just HHIS because IMHO I’m SRFPT, but really just SOL. I realize TANSTAAFL, but WIBNI we DTRT? DWIM?

WRT the BRG, WYSIWYG. It ain’t so FUBAR, but YMMV.

Ultimately, AYBABTU. SCNR! But GGSAYMAHDYMF. HTH. HAND!

db

DVD Burner · Post by **DVD Burner** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:29 pm

outta the whole thing the only thing I got was what you see is what you get.

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:10 pm

Here's what I know from that:

OIC = "oh, I see."
AFAICT = "As far as I can tell"
RTFM = "read the f#&$!ing manual"
YKWIM = "You know what I mean"
PPL = "people"
KISS = "keep it simple, stupid"
BTW = "By the way"
IMHO = "in my humble opinion"
SOL = "shit out of luck"
TANSTAAFL = "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch"
WRT = "With respect to"
WYSIWYG = "what you see is what you get"
FUBAR = "F!$^*ed up beyond all recognition"
YMMV = "your mileage may vary"
HTH = "Hope this helps"

DVD Burner · Post by **DVD Burner** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:13 pm

Thanx Alpha.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:27 pm

thanks Juan

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 2:02 pm

DVD Burner wrote:I'm going to leave you guys alone for awhile if I can. (it's really gonna be tough. ) I gotta give y'all a break.
but before I do that I just wanted to say, I thought dirty bird was best at this stuff. so maybe y'all can help me out because I am totally lost trying to translate this one. here it is:

dirty bird wrote:OIC. AFAICT IHAFC how we got to this WOMBAT, except that I didn’t RTFM. YKWIM, could we PPL KISS? Remember BOGAHICA! BTW, I don’t need a BTTH to learn. Sometimes we make EWAGs and its FM. Other times, I just HHIS because IMHO I’m SRFPT, but really just SOL. I realize TANSTAAFL, but WIBNI we DTRT? DWIM?

WRT the BRG, WYSIWYG. It ain’t so FUBAR, but YMMV.

Ultimately, AYBABTU. SCNR! But GGSAYMAHDYMF. HTH. HAND!

db

Most of these I knew OTTOMH (off the top of my head), but a couple I found with the help of http://www.acronymfinder.com/

WOMBAT - In this context, most likely "Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time." There's also a WomBAT mailing list, where it expands to "Women of Beauty And Temptation."

BOGAHICA - Bend Over, Grab Asscheeks, Here It Comes Again. A new variant to me; I'm used to BOHICA, which is military in origin.

BTTH - Boot To The Head.

EWAG - Extreme Wild-Assed Guess. Again, a variant; I normally see SWAG (Sheer).

FM had 73 listings; either Fecal Matter or F*cking Magic could apply here, it seems.

HHIS - Hanging Head In Shame

WIBNI - Wouldn't It Be Nice If....

DTRT - (Do/Did) The Right Thing.

BRG - Presumably, the Black Rock Gazette.

AYBABTU - "All Your Base Are Belong To Us." (There's a car in the Bay Area that has this on its license plate - I damn near crashed when I saw it.)

SCNR - Sorry, Could Not Resist.

HTH - Can also mean "Happy To Help."

HAND - Have A Nice Day. "HTH. HAND." is frequently used with a generous side-order of sarcasm.

The other two were neither in the AF database or my memory.

lemonade · Post by **lemonade** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 6:35 pm

Maybe emoticons also come from use of TTY's - teletyping phones that people who are deaf or hard or hearing use. To indicate someone was joking you use the word smile for example or GA - go ahead or SK - signing off

Just a wee titbit

Newbie

Lemonade

calsur · Post by **calsur** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 11:40 pm

WAG

The greatest Engineeing and Surveyor term of all time.

Wild Ass Guess.

And I am taking my CA state and federal in two weeks.

Do you feel protected?

Last Real Burner · Post by **Last Real Burner** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 12:50 am

You just stick with us Bob, and we'll have this whole universe figgured out for you, quick as Bob's you're .....Ah....Umm...

"Duty Free"
applely,
mr smith

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 11:56 am

Of course, if your reality needs some playing around with, just read LOL as little old lady. Let us know if anything good happens.

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:05 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:Of course, if your reality needs some playing around with, just read LOL as little old lady.

*snerk* Now I need to track down Herb Caen's column about the two acronyms crossing paths....

Tancorix · Post by **Tancorix** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 2:08 pm

All those acronyms are why I love MS wheel mice. Scroll, scroll, scroll yourself quickly down the screen.....

411 - You've reached information. How may I help you?

411 - You've reached information. How may I help you?

What!......

LOL

No room for useful information in this brain....

re emoticons

WAG

Well Now.....