General Suggestion to ALL MODDERS

[ICERAY2000]

General comment for modders - it is a standard English grammatical practice that the first time you use an abbreviation (for example, FOIK) it should be followed by what it stands for; it is reasonable to assume that many readers will not initially know what the letters stand for, and will make using your MODs more likely to succeed. Just a thought, and an addition that would be greatly appreciated. (For example, a search for "foik" in the title and/or in the description box returns ZERO results, so it is not easy to follow.

Thanks!

[Tubal]

From your other topic I'm guessing you mean FOIP, which you will get several hits for.

[ub3rman123]

Mod Acronyms Dictionary

Modders Dictionary

 

I don't think either of these cover anything but Oblivion, but you can tell by the most common acronyms: FO: Fallout. OB/O: Oblivion. DA: Dragon Age

[Vagrant0]

For tutorials and such which assume 0 familiarity with the game or tools in question, yes, things should be explained...

 

But for forums it is usually the responsibility of those doing the reading to look up any terms or acronyms that they are not familiar with. Having to spell out the name of everything which uses an acronym every time it is used would otherwise defeat the very purpose of them existing.

[Surenas]

[snip]

Having to spell out the name of everything which uses an acronym every time it is used would otherwise defeat the very purpose of them existing.

 

Well said. This'd be the 1st step to stop the pandemic acronymania and to increase the common spelling skills.

[Vagrant0]

[snip]

Having to spell out the name of everything which uses an acronym every time it is used would otherwise defeat the very purpose of them existing.

 

Well said. This'd be the 1st step to stop the pandemic acronymania and to increase the common spelling skills.

Not at all actually, since lazy people are lazy. Instead you would just have people constantly mis-spelling what the acronym stands for, confusing people, and making it harder to search for that actual thing. Acronyms are only a problem when people just pull them out of their ass for anything they feel too lazy to type. Or AaPwPaLA.

[Surenas]

Exactly that's the problem imo - to use acronyms before one can spell what they actually stand for or even instead of per se. In this way the involved language gets corrupted within just a single generation. Acronyms are thus always to be handled with care in the communication. Often a simple label does nicely as well. Anyway, that's all from here. Keep it up!

[phoneyLogic]

Yep, good point. I'd appreciate a proper naming of the esp/esm files and maybe a better explanation of what parent mods are needed and so on. But I like acronyms, as long as they are clever or easy to remember.

[Vagrant0]

Exactly that's the problem imo - to use acronyms before one can spell what they actually stand for or even instead of per se. In this way the involved language gets corrupted within just a single generation. Acronyms are thus always to be handled with care in the communication. Often a simple label does nicely as well. Anyway, that's all from here. Keep it up!

Except that's just downright silly... If both persons know what the acronym means, why does it matter. People say NASA instead of National Aeronautical Science Agency because everyone knows what NASA is and saying it as anything else is both unnecessarily wordy, pretentious, and often leads to an argument as to why the person didn't just say NASA to begin with. In any technical field, those involved within that field know what the bloody acronyms mean, understand the concepts, and find it entirely unnecessary to explain it. At some point you just have to acknowledge that it doesn't matter if you call it an ATM machine, or just a ATM, the being discussed is the same exact thing, and most of those within any given community have incorporated ATM into their vocabulary to mean that exact type of terminal. Language is language, and will always be that which is used to communicate either through written or spoken word, or act, a group of concepts. An acronym, like any other name merely exists to collect those concepts into a single term. Technically speaking, any noun uses the same conceptual formulation as an acronym. The only difference is that the letters used in the acronym relate to individual words, rather than being assembled either arbitrarily or by a convoluted process of linguistics which are based off an arbitrary formulation of vocal sounds.

 

Like it or not, language as a whole is based off attributing meanings to a complex system of breathing and grunting, or the transcription there of. In any place where that system of breathing and grunting differs from person to person, however slightly, and the method of transcription varies by the same degree, you cannot expect two transcriptions to always be identical. It is only by a sheer miracle of education that even a portion of that transcription is consistent from one person to the next within any given language. English is hard enough even when you don't have a native system of breathing and grunting that cannot properly formulate the desired sounds of the English system of breathing and grunting.

 

And then there are the conceptual and grammar issues which can make even well formulated English be incomprehensible.

Edited October 4, 2010 by Vagrant0

[Surenas]

It is not a hypothetic question of assumed knowledge of an acronym on both sides of the line but of the ability to spell the meaning. If this ability gets lost the true meaning follows and in the end one is lost as well... in a linguistic vacuum.

Perfect grammar is step two of the operation called language, not the first. Watch a baby. Without a commonly understandable vocabulary grammar is absolutely useless. Now, reduced ability to write should be the last silly thing to teach the folks cos that leads downright to Babylonian confusion with known outcome - the communication breakdown between different groups and generations of one and the same society, each equipped with her own cryptic slang.

 

INT QJK v INT QRL ?

 

Have a nice week ;)