Abbreviations? Could we get a sticky at all? :)

[Ravnak]

People constantly throw abbreviations around these forums. I often dont have a clue what they're talking about.

Could we maybe start a list of the common ones and then get it stickied up as a reference for people who aren't clued in on the lingo?

[Saerko]

It would be huge...and not necessarily helpful. For instance, OP could mean Original Poster or Over Powered, depending on context. You can always post asking what a given acronym or abbreviation stands for.

Honestly, when the Stone Scribe Elder came out, some people called him the KSB UA, some the ESS, and others the SSE. Who knows what the consensus is, or if there even is one.

[MetalsMike]

I think it would be helpful if at least just for the unit/figure names and ability names as I have been completely stumped from time to time as well.

[Ravnak]

It would be huge...and not necessarily helpful. For instance, OP could mean Original Poster or Over Powered, depending on context.

Firstly, I did not mean to put in every abbreviation in the english language.

I meant to put the game term ones in.


Secondly, lets presume the list is 300 abbreviations long when finished.

I'm going to type 10 sets of letters in a row. Please press Ctrl+F and then type the word S-P-A-M and hit enter. I think it will show what I am thinking.




JRAM
HAM
BAM
PAM
CRAM
SPAM
GAM
LAM
WAM
FLAM

[Mitch]

I guess I'll start...

IF= Iron Flesh
IFP= Iron Fang Pikemen
UA= Unit Attachment
WG= Winterguard
MH= Man Hunter

just a few, all khador though :P

[BlueSkies]

Does WW mean Woldwatcher, Woldwyrd, Woldwarden, Warpwolf, War Wolf, or Wind Wall?

Privateer discourages use of nick names on its rule forum and field test so I doubt anything will ever get sticky in regards to abbreviations.

[TK421]

People could always try writing actual sentences instead of being lazy and abbreviating every other word.

God I hate texting speak.

[admanb]

People could always try writing actual sentences instead of being lazy and abbreviating every other word.

God I hate texting speak.

ur dum

Abbreviations are not the same thing as texting speak. Abbrev. have been in use since people started writing. Mothergently caressing Shakespeare used abbreviations -- probably invented a few.

Calling Journeyman Warcaster "Junior" or the Gun Mage UA "the Dude" or refusing to write Gun Mage Captain Adept five times in one post is not laziness, it's wisdom.

[Mr_Smigs]

well, I can tell you WW means Warp Wolf... or is is Wold Warden? I can never be sure...


see, there's a reason the Rules Forum says "No Abbreviations"

abbreviations are bad.

a stick with a collection of them would be equally bad...
because now instead of a newbie being able to come onto the forum and ask a simple question and get a clear, consise answer...

the'd get an incomprehensible stream of gibberish about how the "OP's SOB WW with COC is al SOL in the TB for PH beause CL can make it really FUBAR..."

hmm...
no.

IMHO.
if they put a stickie like that up, they'd need to add a "punch poster in the junk" button for everytime someone gave a post with more TLAs than actual words...


why do I feel like we've had this conversation before?

[PPS_DC]

Does WW mean Woldwatcher, Woldwyrd, Woldwarden, Warpwolf, War Wolf, or Wind Wall?

Privateer discourages use of nick names on its rule forum and field test so I doubt anything will ever get sticky in regards to abbreviations.

This.

Even the examples already given are problematic. MH is Manhunter? Why not Mage Hunter? or Monster Hunter?

Why is IF Iron Flesh instead of Iron Fang? or Immunity Fire?

It's a really poor practice to get into, because it confuses people who may want to read what you wrote.

[Jack Shandy]

There's a lot to be said for not having to type Gun Mage Captain Adept four times, though. There's a classic rule of writing that helps here: always expand an acronym the first time you use it.

Thus: The Iron Fang Pikemen (IFP) are a staple Khadoran infantry unit. The IFP are fast and have high DEF, plus the ability to shiedwall...

[gutstikk]

Why not just copy/paste Gun Mage Captain Adept?

The Gun Mage Captain Adept walked into town, where he greeted another Gun Mage Captain Adept before continuing on his way to the Gun Mage Captain Adept University where they conducted courses on how to become a better Gun Mage Captain Adept.

Not too difficult.

edit - autocensor fun

[dsjohns]

Being caught up with technical writing quite often, I also find the practice of spelling out what you plan on abbreviating first, putting it's acronym in parenthesis, and then using the acronym for the rest of the paper, or post in this case.

Such as:

"The Gun Mage Captain Adept (GMCA) is an excellent miniature."

Then proceeding to use GMCA for the rest of your post.

[roy_g]

[QUOTE=Mr_Smigs;44507]

the'd get an incomprehensible stream of gibberish about how the "OP's SOB WW with COC is al SOL in the TB for PH beause CL can make it really FUBAR..."

QUOTE]

Is this still english??? :D

[admanb]

the'd get an incomprehensible stream of gibberish about how the "OP's SOB WW with COC is al SOL in the TB for PH beause CL can make it really FUBAR..."



Is this still english??? :D

No. "All" is misspelled, and it's very unlikely that "... in the TB for PH..." is a well-formed phrase.

I find it odd that people think posts would really become illegible gibberish. I'm sure most posters use all the abbreviations they can think of, yet everything on this forum is readable to anyone with at least 3-4 months experience with the game. People understand a lot -- more than they even realize -- through context.

[Spike0011]

well, I can tell you WW means Warp Wolf... or is is Wold Warden? I can never be sure...



WW is Wold Warden. Warpy is for the warpwolf.

but yea, I avoid the ones that are confusing, but when I say, "the dude" about 5/7 players know what I'm talking about.

In the end, spell it out once the give the shortened version after

so Wold Warden(WW)

or Warp Wolf (warpy)

[Ravnak]

See, this is the problem that I see:

Theres apparently a rule against it.

Has a moderator ever turned up and told someone to stop using abbreviations and speak sense? Not in any of the threads I've read.

People going on about "the dude" or "MoWs" or some other term that makes absoloutely zero sense to anyone whos new to the forum.

Either enforcement of that rule, or a glossary of terms seemed the obvious solution. Since its a rather bad rule (Who's going to ban someone for excessive use of abbreviation?) I felt that requesting a glossary would help...

[ResurrectioN]

DJ - no confusion about that one.

[Aníron]

DJ - no confusion about that one.

Yeah, the Thunderhead, right? :)

[MetalsMike]

of course! Don Johnson!
http://media.ksbitv.com/images/don%20johnson.jpg

[Mr_Smigs]

Being caught up with technical writing quite

"The Gun Mage Captain Adept (GMCA) is an excellent miniature."

Then proceeding to use GMCA for the rest of your post.


hmm... GMCA or... [Ctrl+V] ... which takes more keystrokes?

[freedoom]

I think the real problem is people don't know how to type and their lack of keyboard skills is what draws then to acronyms. As someone who knows how to type i type the name as i would call the model to another person. In casual conversation i say Deathjack and not DJ so i type Deathjack.

[DarkLegacy]

Or some people can't spell, so words like Deneghra or Asphyxious get shortened because they could be hard to spell.

[freedoom]

Or some people can't spell, so words like Deneghra or Asphyxious get shortened because they could be hard to spell.
they could just add them to firefox or chrome's spell check database.

[CeltKhan]

On the other hand, people tend to have an aversion to typing the same word or word cluster repeatedly, as it can become stilted, overly formal, and (obviously) repetitive.

There are some words and phrases which can be used as many times as desired without becoming a stylistic impediment. Examples of such are "the," "is," "said," and so on. These are words which we simply recognize from memory without having to actually read the word (which is part of the reason that typoed forms of those words, "teh" and "adn," do not cause significant issues for those fluent in hte language).

Gun Mage Captain Adept is not one of those phrases. Neither is Journeyman Warcaster.

[Lord of Death]

Is it really that hard to figure them out? I'd hazard that most people don't have any problem figuring out what GMCA or IFP stands for.

Of course sometimes weird things happen. I remember the first time(and pretty close to the only time) I saw BoK reference the Butcher instead of Blood of Kings. I was confused at first but it quickly became obvious what was going on.

However, I do tend to avoid them for the most part. For one I don't find it saves particularly much time. But I use Denny and Gaspy every time and that's because of the spelling. Even then I'll get obstinate and go force myself to look up the proper spelling occasionally though.

And learning the lingo is part of joining any new forum. Having things like these are part of what knits a community together. Complaining that you're new to something and therefore don't know everything about it is kind of stupid really.

[Appolus]

Most uses of abbreviation on this forum tend toward the comprehensible. Someone generally spells it out in that thread. There are exceptions, but most people pick up that Jr. is the Journeyman Warcaster pretty quickly. It took me two days. IFP is easily recognized after a few posts as Iron Fang Pikemen.

If you think the lingo here is bad you should go to any site dedicated to the "other game". Good luck figuring out what a Siren Bomb is supposed to be or why every configuration of a battlesuit has not just an acronym but an entire popular phrase that is never referenced anywhere by anyone and not connected to the official writing in any way shape or form (WTH is a Fireknife?). Life here is easy in comparison.