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[Nabubrush]

So _this_ comes from some other form of discourse where this is unavailable? Or is it convenience? Again, I'm only curious. I've gleaned that [/ whatever mode] comes from somewhere else, so I thought perhaps _this_ deal might as well.

[jough]

Can anything really be off-topic in the "Wild Card" forum, though?

I understand that *threads* can meander, but would a forum subject be verboten here?

I am just reading along like everyone else, free from the shackles called "moderator."

FREE!  FREE AT LAST!

[CortJstr]

So _this_ comes from some other form of discourse where this is unavailable? Or is it convenience? Again, I'm only curious. I've gleaned that [/ whatever mode] comes from somewhere else, so I thought perhaps _this_ deal might as well.

Back in the day people used to use the underscores on sites/boards/e-mail/etc that didn't support actual markup. Some people use it as a holdover and some just because it's fewer keystrokes. I still use it in subject lines for emphasis.

I've also seen *this* used to imply italics and this~! is supposed to mean "insert a lot of exclamation points here"

[Choop]

Traditionally on usenet and old IRC clients, words words of emphasis were _underlined_, *bolded*, or /italicized/.

[/end-mode] comes from BBCode (BBML, *BCode, &c.), and from </end-mode>, which came from HTML, where tags start like <this> and end like </this>, or are just <empty /> (that's more XML and XHTML).


</geek-history>

[arkabee]

Nabubrush,
For me it solely stems from habit.  Usenet was a plaintext arena, and any non-text based markup was _strictly_ verboten.  

Thinking about it now, actively inserting html into what i'm "saying" is absolutely foreign to my thought processes.  I'm having a discussion with a group of people, not marking up a web page. [*1]

I suppose that means that i am lazy or resistent to evolving to a web-based forum user.  So, it might indeed stem from "convenience".

as for "[/whatever]" mode.  From my perspective, i see two distinct evolutions.

1- IRC.  IRC used "/" as a preceder to system and user commands.  for instance "/me waves to all" denotes an _Action_ as opposed to a verbilization ("Hi all, if i could i'd wave to you!".  I saw, and performed as well, a lot of that on Usenet.  A mix, perhaps, of "cute", "novel", and "efficiency".  Again, this was used to generate a sense of physical action in a purely text based portayal of a verbal conversation.

2- HTML.  Again, on Usenet, the one faux-markup i'd use and that i saw most in my little corner of heaven..., was the "[voice type= ]" "tag".  Again, inserting more, um, "flavor" into a text-based portrayal of verbal communication.
[voice type=Homer] D'oh! [/voice] Seems to "do" more than: "D'oh! (you know, like homer would say)."
Keeping in mind the era (_before_ people where actually communicating through html oriented interfaces (a la this forum) ), HTML knowledge was still _somewhat_ arcane (albeit decreasingly so) and usenet's "core" user base was distinctively more Geek oriented than not.


Wombat,
Thank Choopernickel.  He "magicked" Toofy into the clean-cut calcium deposit you see before you.  (Incidentally, i've been asked before why i use the tooth as an avatar before.  Simply, whenever i say something really stupid, or possibly mean sounding, or whatnot imagine my response to your query as "hey, i'm a big smiling tooth carrying a toothbrush!!").

As for dialects, i agree.  I lived in many different areas growing up, and as such was subjected to the phenomen before i actually understood what was going on.  As such, i'd think i'm a bit more lenient, and also my "dialect" is a definite amalgamation.  As someone who will say "Ya'll don' know what it's aboot", i guess it makes sense to me to use faux html tags, irc'isms, etc in the "wrong" mediums.


Jldunston,
I don't like your tone.  (ha. hah. hahah. answering service? answering machine? tone? get it?  see, i'm a big giant tooth holding a toothbrush!)


Slink-
I don't do a ton of text messaging on my phone, but i do use it about once a day or so.  as i'm awkwardly ten-keying in "you" over and over again, i ask myself "kevbob, why don't you just use "u"?"  and the answer is, because by the time i think of it, i'm done.  but, i've begum to use "u" more often.  lazy? or efficient?
However, given a keyboard, i don't see any true efficiency in shortening "you", as the time gained versus the communications problems with the receiver do not equalize.
Yet, if i "started" as a text messager, i'm sure i would be much more habitual in my abbreviations.


Andalucia,
Those speeches from previous years _were_ aimed at the lowest common denominator: the LCD of those who could _READ_.  Also, has it not been said that Shakespeare wrote his plays for the LCD?

I guess if you can knowingly refer to your pedantry as "Ridiculous", that counts for something. ; )

-
[*1]  Ya, i alter my habits based on circumstance as well.  For instance, i'm of a general "don't edit" mindset.  mistakes are mistakes, if this was for money or my job, maybe, but i'm conversating not designing a bridge.
Yet, here i am editing just to fit in.

Anyways,,,
So i say inserting html is foreign to my brane, then i go on to explain that i used [voice type = ] faux-tags on usenet.  so, obviously the idea of marking up in html isn't foreign.  except that i said "verboten" too, and The German Language is devotely foreign to me.

YMMV, just add water.

[Nabubrush]

Holy crap! Well, anyway, thanks for the info. I could see where a person like me might really go overboard with some of that stuff, so I'm going to go ahead and try not to use it. Especially as I would feel sort of poseuresque because I wasn't really there then.

[Choop]

Arkabee,


Thanks.

Kisses,
Choop.

[jough]

Hey ark, we have italics here.  Please take the time to show you know how to use them.  There will be a test later.

By properly italicising that which you mean to emphasise you show your fellow message boarders that you care.

[arkabee]

Hey ark, we have italics here.  Please take the time to show you know how to use them.  There will be a test later.

By properly italicising that which you mean to emphasise you show your fellow message boarders that you care.

This is how you italicize text on a phpbb forum.

this is how you bold text on a phpbb forum.

this is how you underline text on a phpbb forum.

by using "alt+i", you can open an

Code: [Select]

[i] tag.  yet, ctrl-z does not undo. [1]

yeah, i'm just in love with phpbb systems.  they work so great.

oh, and i look! i can change the colour of the text!
{edit- see [2]}

oh my, indeed, this certainly facilitates easy communication!!

ps,
i thought it would cross the line to "Disable BBCode in this post".
However, the mere fact that i previewed it that way and laughed probably shows that i'm not near mature enough to handle the deep responsibilities of phpbb usership.

pps,
incidentally, when i underline i add 2 characters, to underline within the phpbb system, i use 7.

ppps,
i guess this means i "failed" the quiz, eh?

-
[1]  hmm, too bad there's not a footnote tag.  because, then when you click the phpbb's insert tag buttons in the message editor, and rather than insert them at current cursor position it appends them to all test, there'd be a home for all the left over tags that remain after you ctrl-z:

[/u]


[2]
"oh, and i look!"? oh, and i look like an idiot. ya, that _must_ be what i meant...

[jough]

Ctrl-Z to undo is a function of your browser software (if you use IE), not a server-side PHP script.

Anyway, you pass the quiz.  

A++

[arkabee]

Ctrl-Z to undo is a function of your browser software (if you use IE), not a server-side PHP script.

eh? that would be my point, sort of, if you hog-tied, gagged, and threw it down your cellar stairs.

this would be a discussion for a different forum, i would think.

[sjlimmer]

One of the things about this messageboard is that most or at least many of us probably are writing like you'd write a dissertation.  It's one of our most endearing qualities.

Even this will vary with the field of the dissertation author. I doubt that the language of my dissertation is in line with the ideal you have of dissertation-like writing. Style was not the foremost concern of my reading committee (and, given the my advisor is not a native speaker, his advice is occasionally wrong). Rather, they were interested in the scientific/engineering content. Where the style made the content unclear, I strove to repair the text. Even after this, my words are by no means elegant. I tried to be aware of distinctions (comprise, rather than comprised of, for example), and went through the text with Strunk and White at hand. My dissertation (and, by extension, my writing on this board and in other places) is utilitarian above all other concerns.

And I still don't make myself very clear. I guess I shouldn't have slept through College Writing and Rhetoric.

[AugustWest]

Strunk and White

My Heroes!

[andalucia]

Strunk and White

My Heroes!

Oh man, agreed.

[arkabee]

One of the things about this messageboard is that most or at least many of us probably are writing like you'd write a dissertation.  It's one of our most endearing qualities.

Even this will vary with the field of the dissertation author.

my meaning in using the word "dissertation" was the quality of going over your text as though it were to be presented to a board that held the ability to screw you over in their collective Hand.

as opposed to me, who goes over his text like he goes over his thinning hair with a wet hand, running 10 minutes late to meet his friend to play video games.