Shortcuts :argh:

[Dugi]

This thing is annoying me for quite some time. Many people are using shortcuts on various locations, and frequently the meaning of those shortcuts is unclear for people who didn't play a specific add-on. The meaning of some shortcuts, like THoT, HttT or UtBS is quite clear, but there are many add-on campaigns, eras or MP scenarios that aren't known enough.

If I need to understand the meaning of a post where it really matters what does the shortcut stand for, I have almost no means to find it out (some lists of shortcuts do exist, but they are usually really outdated). An example can be the case ChaosRider mentions WOTG, it's not clear that it's his era, even if we somehow guessed that it stands for War of the Gods (and the shortcut should better be WotG, not WOTG), we might not be sure if it means his add-on (that isn't as famous as Invasion from the Unknown) or a song from Amon Amarth (the song has a storyline). Also, if I used here AA instead of Amon Amarth, it would be unclear if I meant Amon Amarth or Asking Alexandria.

It gets absolutely unreadable if the shortcut is written wholly in capitals (LOW instead of LoW for Legend of Wesmere), without capitals (did instead of DiD for Descent into Darkness) or makes a typo in the shortcut (and also unclear if it is really a shortcut and not bad syntax or typo instead).

So I would like to suggest to add some kind of rule about shortcuts to forum rules, somewhere near the rule to write with proper spelling. Something like 'Use only shortcuts that are generally recognised or referring to mainline campaigns or important features of the game. Other shortcuts can be used only in topics where are discussed the things they're referring to.'

[ChaosRider]

"THoT, HttT or UtBS" - i dont know them, whats these shortcuts mean ?

[vultraz]

There is a function on the forums for people to define what an acronym means for people to see when they mouseover it. However, people don't use it much.

[Dugi]

@ChaosRider
Mainline campaigns (The Hammer of Thurstagan, Heir to the Throne and Under the Burning Suns), I suppose you should know them. And now you know how most people feel when you're speaking about WOTG on random places on the forums.

@vultraz
Shortcuts are used to write something faster, and that function is against that principle, it's slower than writing the whole word no matter what, so it's quite unlikely to be used.

[ChaosRider]

Thats why i mostly also write full name of addon in parentheses. Also i have wesnoth in Polish language so maybe thats why im not familiar with these shortcuts.

[Dugi]

I am not criticising you, this behaviour is quite common. I just saw another of your post mentioning MWC and it reminded me that I wanted to write this (I know that lately you are writing what you wanted to abbreviate somewhere, but it's still annoying when reading).

[vultraz]

Do you propose this scheme for all addons/acronyms, or only less known ones? I should think everyone on the forums would know the meaning of "LotI" by now.

[Dugi]

I should think everyone on the forums would know the meaning of "LotI" by now.

I don't think so, so I am using that abbreviation only in its feedback topic (other people don't). That may be simply because there is a writer named Pierre Loti whose book I had to read for lessons of French language and it really sucked. But that's irrelevant.

Do you propose this scheme for all addons/acronyms, or only less known ones?

I am not quite sure if there is an add-on that all forum visitors know. There are people around who don't know even the older and highly revered add-ons like Invasion from the Unknown. Also, there isn't a clear barrier what is a mostly known add-on and what isn't.

[zookeeper]

I don't mind people using acronyms I don't recognize. In that case I can just assume that whatever they wanted to say probably wasn't intended for me anyway and that they don't mind if I don't get it. Not my problem...

[tekelili]

I am glad Dugi pointed this issue. Btw I dont understnad any shortcut, as I dont play any campaign. It took me like 2 years stop wondering what in hell mean DiD until someone used that feature to link shortcut to its meaning... (but I agree with Dugi, that feature has not so much sense).

I always thought was comon sense issue that wesnoth is not the most popular game in World, but still see shortcuts to stuff played for a couple of hundreds. Anyway is up to posters decide if he wants be understood, I mainly stop reading post when is clear to me that writter dont want be understood. For me use shotcuts is like use Polish (no ofense ChaosRider , just not my language -> just no a post for me.

[ChaosRider]

Spoiler:

English / Polish
The Hammer of Thurstagan (THoT) / Młot Thursagana (MT)
Heir to the Throne (HttT) / Następca tronu (Nt)
Under the Burning Suns (UtBS) / Pod Palącymi Słońcami (PPS)

Is it should be Thurstagana or Thursagana?

[Dugi]

Seeing the campaign's translated names' abbreviations is totally confusing. If I referred to UtBS as PŽR (in my language), nobody at all would understand.

Is it should be Thurstagana or Thursagana?

Thursagan, I was reading it wrongly all the time, that affected my spelling of that name. Great idea to use the genitive form of that name.

[AI]

BFWTOSGWRHAOAE

[Turuk]

I don't mind people using acronyms I don't recognize. In that case I can just assume that whatever they wanted to say probably wasn't intended for me anyway and that they don't mind if I don't get it. Not my problem...

I'm in agreement with zookeeper on this one, if someone starts throwing around acronyms that aren't normally seen or used, usually their intended audience understands and that isn't always me. If the post authors wants to maximize their clarity they should spell it out, but that's really up to them.

Or if someone doesn't know what the poster is trying to say, they could just ask. Crazy talk.

Less acronyms on the forums might be helpful, but making a rule to limit them seems a bit much.

[Iris]

We don’t need a rule for this.

If you are in doubt, you can always ask the poster nicely, use <insert web search engine here> or the Glossary AI0867 linked above.