| ??? 06/10/05 06:09 Read: times Msg Score: +1 +1 Good Answer/Helpful |
#94605 - The problem Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Dan Henry said:
... and if the recorded browser capabilities indicate the the poster actually did post from a cellphone or PDA with limited input capabilities such that the use of SMS was (arguably) warranted, leave the post alone; otherwise, close/delete the post without prejudice. The problem I have is that I'm beginning to think that being on a phone or PDA is no longer an adequate excuse for using SMS. As of today, I've been contacted with a complaint from a moderate SMS user that was complaining about something that, in reality, he misunderstood--and the misunderstanding was due specifically to the use of the SMS in the misunderstood message. The SMS in question led the member to be offended when that was not the intent of the message. So we have an issue of needing clear communication. If you're on a PDA or cellphone then I think messages should still be posted in proper, non-SMS English. What good does it do to quickly post a message to 8052.com from a cellphone if it's going to be misunderstood? It'd be better to wait until the member has access to a real computer and can write his message properly. In point of fact, I'm pretty sure that very few (if any) members actually browse and post to this site with a cellphone. The site is most definitely not cellphone/PDA friendly. Thus I suspect most of the SMS we see is not due to real need but due to laziness or just a poor habit of unncessarilly abbreviating. While I was tolerant of this before, the misunderstanding that arose due to SMS has shown me clearly that SMS is posing a real threat to the ability to communicate clearly here. We have so many people from so many countries that speak English as a second or third language that I simply do not think it is reasonable to use SMS. The opportunity for misunderstanding in such a diverse forum is just too great. Just getting such a diverse group of people to "get along" is hard enough without throwing SMS into the mix to further increase the opportunity for misunderstandings. As for abbreviations such as LOL, IMHO, PS, etc., those are abbreviations, not SMS. I don't know about others, but I have no problem with using "IMHO" but I do have a problem with using the number "4" instead of "for". Even so, abbreviations such as IMHO are probably better typed out since there may be people that don't know that it stands for "In My Humble Opinion." Regards, Craig Steiner 8052.com Webmaster |
