Excess of abbreviations

[SilverGreen]

Aren't people exceeding in the use of abbreviated card names? I totally agree in abbreviate the names of very well-known staples when their names are too long, as with FoW, StP, SotF, CotV and others, but there's people abbreviating things like Vedalken Shackles (VS), Gastly Demise (GD) or Eternal Witness (EW), that play in dedicated decks and aren't universally adopted. Some days ago I had to read about 25 posts in a topic to figure out the DB someone wrote meant Dragon's Breath!

I think people could use a little more good sense when posting things not so obvious for other people here realize. In special when refering to not so obvious cards, like suggesting GDs in a topic about 4 Colors Landstill with no Gastly Demises in the original post.

[zulander]

I got one for ya.

QQ

You figure it out.


On topic, I concur. Someone used some weird abbreviations once for some card that really sucked. I hated it.

[KillemallCFH]

If people have been discussing a card without a known abbreviation, I usually find it acceptable, as it is a pain to write out a card name 5 times if you could just abbreviate it and make it obvious to which card you are referring. However, if you go in and post something about a card that no one else is discussing and use abbreviations, then it can get rather annoying, as no one will have any idea what the fuck you're talking about.

[Shtriga]

they're lazy and it makes them look smart :P more than once have I also read an abbreviation of a card that had nowhere been discussed in that topic and wasn't well known

[GreenOne]

I find generic abbreviations more irritating. Before discovering there's an acronym dictionary available I had some problems with OMFG, BTW, IMHO, BR, AFAIK, pwn, etc. And with abbreviations of the game too (CIP...).

I just discovered what FYI means.

I got one for ya.

QQ

I really don't have a clue.

EDIT: Found. That acronym dictionary is savage.

[Zuriya]

FYI means for you idiots , right ?
You can always solve this problem by looking for a card that has the same abbreviations and start discussing it. /thread

[VsTheWorld]

But if you have to look up cards to figure out what the abbreviation means, it defeats the purpose of abbreviating the name in the first place because it takes longer for you to process it. For example, I was reading a thread on SCG about vintage Shop Aggro and out of nowhere someone started talking about CoW and it took me probably 30 seconds to figure out he meant Crucible of Worlds. By that point I was just annoyed and didn't want to read his post anymore.

[Solpugid]

Eh, I'm used to CoW now, having seen it so many times. I think the trick is using abbreviations that are quite unique, like LftL or FTK. If I started calling cabal therapy CT, that would be confusing because CT doesn't immediately stand out as a single card name.

And FYI, FYI means 'for your information'.

[Pinder]

Eh, I'm used to CoW now, having seen it so many times.

But why not just say 'Crucible'? Are there other playable Crucibles? Do we really need to specifically point out that this one is 'of Worlds'? Especially with an acronym that no one understands? Same thing with Chalice. CotV saves you like half a second over just typing Chalice (unless you have one arm, or 43 chromasomes, or something). So why? When you say 'Chalice', people know what you're talking about. Same with Force. Usually the only abbreviations I use most are FoW, SofI and StP. The rest I can just say the one word and people know what I'm talking about.

Kavu. You thought Flametongue, didn't you?
Confidant. Are there any others besides the Dark one?
Survival. Of the Weakest? Of course not.

You see what I'm getting at here?

edit - best is when people abbreviate the 'Words' enchanments from Onslaught. 'So wait, which WoW were you talking about?'

[Nihil Credo]

To me, it's as much a question of style as of convenience. If you're discussing a card and you have to name it six times in a single paragraph, it sounds terrible if you use its proper name every time - so, unless the card has an accepted nickname, you can use an abbreviation for variety.

[Bovinious]

I basically agree with Pinder, the only abbreviations that I use and think other should use are like FoW, StP, SofI, DoJ, and maybe a few more I forgot, but I also like to use FTK, TFK and always say Bob for Confidant which isnt really an abbreviation per se but it kinda is. Oh and CB and BS are ok acronyms too b/c their names are one word but kind of long words.

[freakish777]

If I'm not mistaken abbrievating in Vintage is a little more acceptable because 45%+ of all decks over lap.

So, DT/VT 99% of the time means Demonic Tutor/Vampiric Tutor. AR? Oh Ancestral. Etc.

For the most part, I don't have a problem with people's abbreviations.

[SilverGreen]

To me, it's as much a question of style as of convenience. If you're discussing a card and you have to name it six times in a single paragraph, it sounds terrible if you use its proper name every time - so, unless the card has an accepted nickname, you can use an abbreviation for variety.

I agree, use abbreviations for style is ok. But it's much different write "you should play at least two Decrees of Justice, because DoJ wins games by itself" than write a random "did you try some ITs in your deck already?".

[Tacosnape]

People are stupid and lazy. This problem will never be fixed. The end. or TE, rather.

[MattH]

What I consider to be Best Practice: the first time a card name appears in your post, spell it out. Feel free to abbreviate (or use slang like "Pikula" for Meddling Mage) after that, but make sure it's spelled out at least once.

Exceptions can be made but only for the most-popular acronyms: T1.5, P9, probably STP and FoW. Maybe SotF, but maybe not.

True abbreviations like "Trop" and "Volc" are pretty much fine any time.

[Lego]

Kavu. You thought Flametongue, didn't you?

I have to be honest, I thought of Raging Kavu. I agreed with everything else in your post I just think of FTK as FTK so much that I forget he's a Kavu

[AngryTroll]

What I consider to be Best Practice: the first time a card name appears in your post, spell it out. Feel free to abbreviate (or use slang like "Pikula" for Meddling Mage) after that, but make sure it's spelled out at least once.

Exceptions can be made but only for the most-popular acronyms: T1.5, P9, probably STP and FoW. Maybe SotF, but maybe not.

True abbreviations like "Trop" and "Volc" are pretty much fine any time.

First time I use a card in a long post: Spelled out completely, or in some cases shortened (In RGBSA, Survival instead of Survival of the Fittest, Birds instead of Birds of Paradise, Witness or EWitness instead of Eternal Witness).

After that, shortened versions of the card, or abbreviations like FTK or StP. But again, does FTK really save much over Kavu? Or StP over Swords? Not really.

[Ebinsugewa]

You really just have to read for context. I assume that Dragon Breath was discussed in a Breakfast thread, so just think about it. I myself do not abbreviate much except in speech, and I wish that people would just write/type correctly. However, this isn't really that big of a problem.

[mikekelley]

What the hell is SotF?

[Getsickanddie]

What the hell is SotF?

Survival of the Fittest