acronyms and abbreviations

[wabi]

Been a forum member for several months now and I'm still lost on a large majority of the meanings of thread titles and statements made in posts.

I have no idea what a MBD, QMH, DBC (and most of the confusing capitol letter abbreviations) are!

Would it be so hard to spell the description completely the first time it's mentioned in a post? I sometimes take shortcuts and abbreviate, but I try to spell it out (SIO) the fisrt time I use the description!

I would suggest members SIO (spell it out) in their posts so the rest of us know what you're saying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Youngmoose]

i found this the first day i signed up. hope this helps you a little. http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=216

[wabi]

I've seen that thread, too. My problem is new ones are invented every day, and I can't figure them out all too often. Just wish members would think of newbys and spell it out once in their post to give me a clue.

[dhesspdx]

MBD

Mini Bull Design

QMH

Questionable Mental Health

DBC

Dutch Beer Can

All of these came from Tinny at www.Minibulldesigncult.webs.com

[gRaFFiX]

I have shared your frustration. I try not to use abbreviations except "In my opinion" (IMO).

[Just Jeff]

I also suggest that people just spell it out. I usually do unless it's a common one. Some people like feeling cool when they make up a new acronym, though.

If there's an acronym you don't understand, post the question in the acronyms thread and we'll add it...you're probably not the only one with that question. Or if you see an acronym missing, let us know and we'll add it.

[Cannibal]

Look on the bright side; hammocking is a science that doesn't require a firm grasp of Latin.
All things considered, a few acronyms aren't that bad.

[ChrisH]

Google has been my friend since I joined this forum. I am a member of other forums and am fairly familiar with the acronyms that are most used but people here seem to go crazy with them. For me, it's much faster to just spell it out because I have to press shift and then the letters to make them capitals.

[Rain Man]

I also suggest that people just spell it out. I usually do unless it's a common one. Some people like feeling cool when they make up a new acronym, though.

Yep, sometimes it seems to be a cool "snob" thing, like name dropping. The courteous (IMHO, tee hee) thing is the same as in journalism, spell it out the first time in a post, then use the abbreviation thereafter.

Rain Man

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[Just Jeff]

Yep - that's How We Do It In The Military (HWDIITM), too. But you don't want to do everything HWDIITM.