Does the culture of the SDMB drive morons away by itself?

[athelas]

Well, then, you must be drowning in OH-.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@twickster

And thus, ladies and gentleman, we see how gabriela racked up 1000 posts in six months.

Please don’t look at my post-count. Please please please.

The post counts are biased in favour of those of us with old, tired brains.

[Gary_Robson]

@athelas

Well, then, you must be drowning in OH-.

Gee, I thought you had an acidic sense of humor.

[Mr.Slant]

@John Corrado

Actually, specifically it was developed by First-Person-Shooter gamers on the Internet. Therefore, many of the terms within it are specificially geared to telling an opponent he sucks or that you’re great (suxxorz and roxxors, respectively). It’s also why it makes heavy use of abbreviation (“u” for “you”, “2” for “to”; “noob” for newbie): to make it easier to type quickly while still playing competitively in the game. It’s also why, conversely, some of the spelling or letter exchanges (using ASCII symbols for letters, such as saying r0><><0rs instead of roxxors) are actually more convoluted: what better way to prove your ability than to type something extremely complex even as you kick your opponent’s ass? Finally, its use in game quick chat is why common typos tend to be enshrined in it: “pwned” for “owned” and “teh” for “the”.

SNIP

l33tsp34k predates multi-player FPS games by several years.

[Mr.Slant]

@InvisibleWombat

I saw a lot of what’s now called “Leet Speak” in the computer hacker world long before it showed up in the first-person shooters. Go look at old archives from alt.2600 and some of the other old “haxor” forums.

SNIP

I am afraid that in this matter, j00 B34t m3 t0 Sk00l!nG h1M 0n 7h4t f4Ct.

[Gary_Robson]

@Mr. Slant

I am afraid that in this matter, j00 B34t m3 t0 Sk00l!nG h1M 0n 7h4t f4Ct.

Pwned!

[fisha]

@Mr. Slant

I am afraid that in this matter, j00 B34t m3 t0 Sk00l!nG h1M 0n 7h4t f4Ct.

OW! Stop doing that!