Use of text speak

[#1]

Guys as much as I love a good debate as much as the next person, we're getting close to personal insults. These, along with threats of legal action, have absolutely no place in these forums please keep this in mind.

[#2]

chris  no offence  but i am very very angry at the lack of consideration for people who have medical problems, speech problems etc  and i assure you that  what i have just posted is not a threat. I have already spoken to the ehrc and the quicker you kick this poll into touch the better for plusnet

[#3]

As per my reply on the other thread you've posted on about this issue, at no point has anyone said that text speak is going to be banned, this post was to gauge the community reaction. Obviously the reaction is not to ban it and therefore it isn't going to be banned.

[#4]

As I keep saying, text speak is a choice, not an affliction.
As a disabled person myself I am well aware of the affects of discrimination and fairly well up on disability discrimination legislation.
But use of text speak is not a disability, it's a choice.

[#5]

Quote from: Chris

As per my reply on the other thread you've posted on about this issue, at no point has anyone said that text speak is going to be banned, this post was to gauge the community reaction. Obviously the reaction is not to ban it and therefore it isn't going to be banned.

Erm?  The poll results (so far) indicate the opposite, it is only the people that care to comment as opposed to vote, that seem to marginally in the majority it comes to not banning.
Them's that shout loudest are not by that fact alone the majority.

[#6]

If you insist on this rule it must be absolutely consistent, that means all acronyms must be banned. So that means an end to HTH, IANAL, AFAIK, LOL etc. all of which have been perfectly acceptable up to now; when people haven't understood we've explained and pointed them at places such as the acronym finder if they come across any others.
Stand by for plenty of "Report to moderator" posts!

[#7]

thank you chris for being sensible

[#8]

jelv    i fully agree with you

the ehrc are suggesting that perhaps the poll should be removed immediately, so as not to cause undue offence to disabled users

[#9]

These disabled users, how did they write before text speak existed?  The first ever text message was sent in 1992, in 1993 the first consumer implemtations were implemented, and it wasn't until around the year 2000 that texting became popular.
So these afflicted people, who can only write by using text speak, exactly what is it they did before these dates, when text speak was impossible as it had not been invented?
Use of text speak is choice.

[#10]

I cant think of any disability that requires you to use text speak, and I will think you will find that Midnight Caller will not be able to read thisoldmans postings as he has to use a Text Reader as he is severely Dyslexic
And Yes I find IANAL very annoying, some of the unusual leave me scratching my head trying to work them out.  No wonder my solar panel is getting bigger.

[#11]

With respect to disabilities I have just tried using text speech on a text reader and it can't cope.
For example m8 is spoken as m eight
So with respect to disabilities using  text abbreviations instead of normal words is in itself discriminatory against those who are dyslexic or have poor eyesight

[#12]

How does it cope with [abbr=mate]m8[/abbr]?

[#13]

m eight with a rising tone indicating a question

[#14]

Quote from: thisoldman

jelv    i fully agree with you the ehrc are suggesting that perhaps the poll should be removed immediately, so as not to cause undue offence to disabled users

I'm legally classed as a disabled person and am not taking offence, on the contrary, I loath text speak and refuse to use it even when using SMS, if my niece uses text speak on MSN or Facebook or an email, I tell her off because it promotes laziness on her behalf and would in turn be bad for her spelling.
I (along with everyone else) would love to know which sector of people are being discriminated against by banning of text speak.  Quickly, think fast, got the answer yet?  Ok, which sector of people are being discriminated against by not banning text speak?  People who have a language other than English as their first language so have no idea what is being said "u no wot I mean m8?" seriously, how do they translate that into their own language, discrimination against non-native English, that's racist that is.  People who are visually impaired so need a text reader, seems discriminatory against them, especially if it turns it into Braille and you end up with "no" instead of "know" and what not, so yep, discriminatory against visually impaired people too.  How about people with Dyslexia who have a hard enough job trying to understand words when they are correctly spelt and in the right order?  Seems discriminatory to them too!
I cannot think of one person who would feel that banning a form of lazy speech would infringe their rights and be against their disability, on the contrary, it all points that by not banning it, it's more discriminatory.  Jelv on the other hand raises excellent points as to why it shouldn't be banned, he doesn't need to make rubbish up in an attempt to get his point across, and whilst I do in part agree with Jelv's statements, i did vote "yes" because of my own personal opinions on the matter.

[#15]

And I bet the EHRC don't regard it as discriminatory either.