I loathe netspeak.
The typical excuse for using netspeak is that it “saves time”- but I contend that all it does is make deciphering the post that much harder for the reader.
It’s kind of like “malicious laziness”.
What does SCOTUS stand for?
Ooh, while I’m at it, what’s YMMV?
Supreme Court of the United States and Your Mileage May Vary, respectively.
Thanks for the explanation! I kept forgetting to ask, until now.
I am partial to an occasional LOL now and then but usually only because I am literally Laughing Out Loud at something I just read. I like WTF and IMHO too.
The one that reallly drives me up the wall is “okies” for “okay”. I loathe that one. It makes me think of a overly giggly 12-year-old girl–it’s way too cute to be used by an adult.
Plus when my 2 year old is on my lap she always asks to see more smiley faces, so I add one to my post. It makes her giggle.
It’s fun to whip out a ROFLMAO or a RUOK every now and then. But although threads here can get chatty, quality of speech, as opposed to quantity, seems to be the focus. You can be a total windbag and folks will leave you alone, but get a fact wrong and you get … corrected.
I’ve always wondered what some of those ACLTUTSP* meant. Now I know. Thanks.
*All-capital-letter things used to shorten phrases
I love SCOTUS. It sounds so…dirty! 
As for most 'leet speak and chat acronyms, there’s a time and a place for everything. I can’t handle 'leet speak but will use an occasional lol in chat. This board has the right amount of acronyms to suit me.
The problem with LOL is that it means either “lots of luck” (usually sarcastically) or “laughing out loud”.
And you can get some pretty weird results when the reader interprets it in the other sense.
If we allow the language to become a collection of net acronyms, where will folks learn to write properly?
Interoffice memos? No. These are for terse statements from the higher authorities.
Notes passed in class? No. We need to keep those written in forms that cannot be deciphered by the teacher.
Instant messages on cell phones? No. Leave those for the folks who can actually use all of those tiny buttons for their equally short messages.
I’m all for the use of any language form folks want to use, but different forms should be chosen for different uses. If we are going to have well reasoned thoughts expressed here, we need to use the full language capabilities, both for expressing ourselves, and for the understanding of other members.
Okay, then, no SCOTUS. Is it still okay to use FBI, DEA, and DoJ, or must we write out Federal Bureau of Investigaton, Drug Enforcement Agency, and Department of Justice each time? 
ROLFMAOHARRIS.
what about smileys? if you feel they’re ok, then what about ascii smileys? (aren’t they the same thing?)
Just know that not everybody is going to recognize what they mean. 
likewise, not everyone recognise what these means - :o ;j :wally
really! i still don’t really know what to do with Mr Spider Hat…
I don’t mind the common ones such as LOL, TMI, WTF (in fact I have been known to to use ‘WuhTuhFuh?’ IRL).
I cannot stand 1337 and SMS abbreviation. maybe this makes me a fogey; so be it.
For whatever reason, I really cannot bring myself to utilize SMS-speak when I’m SMSing someone. Especially with predictive-text technology, there’s no really valid reason for me to use it, and I just can’t get myself to say “I will C U 2 at 4”
At work we have an instant messaging client and it always sets my teeth on edge when I get an IM from an otherwise educated, intelligent and high-ranking person that says “r u there?”
Grrrr.
I use LOL ironically in other places such as on msn. Yeah it used to be dorky but to me it indicates more than just “ha ha” it is sort of a mirthful discarding of all pretense of cool. It’s sort of like how as a kid it was too embarassing to say penis, but then I took perverse ironic delight in saying penis all the time until eventually penis was just the word for a dick. It’s the same with LOL. At first I would not say it, then I would say it to make fun of it and now I just say it.
There is something about that on one of the Chapelle Show DVD commentaries, about calling sketches skits. It’s the same for me with LOL. However, I only like LOL when it’s used by someone who hates LOL.