[Aishah]

Thanks, Hal! And GxMx - a nice, succinct post!

[capt_mahajan]

I will soon start posting in morse code in reply to SMS.

That should do it.

[charlotte]

.-- .... .- - | .- | --. --- --- -.. | .. -.. . .- | | | .. | .-- .. .-.. .-.. | -.. :d

[mridula]

Charlotte now that is really something to understand!

Plain English has served us well at IM and that is how it should be. But then I write my SMS (the few that I write) also in plain English!

[Hal]

Originally Posted by capt_mahajan

I will soon start posting in morse code in reply to SMS.

That should do it.

[dipydoo]

Am one of the few who still type my SMSs with normal spellings. Other forums that I am a member of, have an anything goes policy, which for me, makes deciphering the message quite difficult. In IM I dont need to spend time in trying to understand the english, rather than the question. Needless to say, after I discovered IM, the other sites have been kind of neglected .
Lets keep this site clear of text language. But as crvlr points out, its a losing battle.
As regards to Charlotte's original question as to why the Goa forum seems to have higher SMS usage, could it be that people are too busy that they cannot find time to type??

[Aishah]

Your post says it all dipydoo! But also, SMS is not only confined to the Goa Forum - it's everywhere and mainly by younger members who must be really into using texting on their mobiles.

[Nick-H]

Originally Posted by crvlvr

I think deleting posts (although I understand the rational behind it) is quite a harsh approach in the live and let live world of IM.

This is only done in the most extreme cases, or when a member just ignores our requests.

Our intention is always to moderate the site; we dislike policing it!

[edwardseco]

people are too busy

. Whatever happened to good old hashioned Old Monk Rum..

[dhans]

Is SMS in itself forbidden?
Is short message service in itself forbidden?
Will this post be deleted?

And aren't we missing the real point here. WHY IN HEAVENS NAME ON THE GOA FORUM? (use of capitals is also a big no).

Hans

[dipydoo]

Originally Posted by edwardseco

. Whatever happened to good old hashioned Old Monk Rum..

Its still alive and kicking. (OM sweet OM)

[puchoo]

maybe some kind of an alert can be put up..in the quick reply area , reply to thread and new thread....

whenever someone opens any of these to post something on the site , right on to there can be a message in bold (to make it clearly visible) stating that SMS style of writing should not be used and incase it is then the post stands to be deleted....

It might not be 100% effective , but im sure a reminder just before the action would help out...

[DrHeckleAndMrSnide]

Just taking it off-topic a lil bit maybe (but hey, that's practically a membership requirement here) ...

I am as opposed to the use of SMS speak as many of the others here,
but was wondering... is it really a new trend of shortening the spelling of words to make it more phonetically similar?
I mean, consider British English and many words therein being re-spelt by American English ...
catalogue -> catalog
dialogue -> dialog
colour -> color.

Heck, when I went to check, turns out even cheque is check.

In fact, the original British spelling is looked askance at by many.

So, is it really a new trend?

[Nick-H]

This complicates matters un-necessarily! Those spellings have existed for decades and centuries in what is another, valid branch of the language.

That there is are a number of different varieties of the English language we do not dispute; we do not jump on people for leaving the 'u' out of 'color', nor do we have any problem with Indian usage --- all of these things come under the broad umbrella of "English".

Of course, there are confusions, especially when stuff like pants and thongs turn up in post, but all this things are (albeit with the occasional explanation) understandable to all English speakers most of the time.

SMS may just possibly have its place on the 'small screen', although, even there, it is a mystery to some of us.

[DrHeckleAndMrSnide]

Originally Posted by Nick-H

This complicates matters un-necessarily! Those spellings have existed for decades and centuries in what is another, valid branch of the language.

I dislike SMS lingo even when it is used on mobile phones. But was just playing the devil's advocate here.

Those spellings must have been weird, even anathema when they were originally proposed. The reason they're valid now is only because of the wide usage.

What's to stop SMS language to become another valid branch of English, except if there are not enough takers?

By the way, just as SMS lingo is convoluted and difficult to understand, so are the Latin phrases that are the staple of any lawyer's business.

In fact, there was a move underway to ban the use of Latin phrases like status quo, bona fide etc. (no, etcetera is banned too...replace with "and so on")here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...n-phrases.html
Examples are ad infinitum, but let's just say they're almost limitless.

Finally, down with SMS speak on this forum!!!