 | This is anessay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Avoid cryptic language. Try to keep your use of abbreviations down when talking with human beings. |
WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG!
What The Fuck? Oh My God! Too Many Damned Three-Letter Acronyms. ARRRGGGHHH!!!!
WP:WHEN WP:EDIANS WP:CITE WP:PAGES WP:IN WP:THE WP:PRJ WP:NS, WP:THEY WP:FREQUENTly WP:REF WP:CUTS WP:LIKE "WP:BEANS", "WP:BALLS", WP:AND "WP:BRD". While theseMOS:ABBREVIATIONS WP:ARE WP:GREAT WP:FOR WP:RDRing WP:TO WP:A WP:SPECIFIC WP:PAGE WP:YOU WP:USE WP:FREQUENTly, it's probablyWP:A WP:BADIDEA WP:TO WP:MAKE WP:A WP:POINT WP:OF WP:USING theseWP:TLAs WP:IN dailyWP:TALK, lest yourWP:DISCUSSion WP:END WP:UP WP:AS WP:NONSENSE WP:LIKE WP:THE WP:TITLE WP:OF WP:THIS WP:PAGE.
When Wikipedians refer to pages in the Wikipedia: namespace, they frequently use shortcuts like "WP:BEANS", "WP:BALLS", and "WP:BRD". Thisjargon is used as a link to a particular, frequently-used page. While these abbreviations are great for redirecting to a specific page that you use often, it's probably a bad idea to habitually use these in daily discussion, lest your discussions may end up as nonsensical as the title of this page.
Editors usejargon for compact communication, especially when doing hundreds of similar laborious important edits, e.g. vandalism patrol. Try toning down odd shouty wikilinks to policies and guidelines. Either explain what they are, or use explanatory text in apiped link. Jargon directly excludes people, even when used with the best of intentions. It can take a conscious effort to avoid it.Don't bite the newbies.
If you use abbreviations all the time, you risk forgetting what the expansion actually is, and might say something you don't actually mean:
Newer editors will often encounter the first heavy use of these abbreviations in the talk pages of articles,Articles for Deletion discussions, or other administrative areas of Wikipedia. To keep the community open and inviting to newcomers, editors should avoid the use ofcryptic language and acronyms, as it projects a sense ofelitism that is likely to alienate newer editors.
For example, when indicating the reasons that an article should be deleted, the following may be considered hostile to newer members:
Instead of listing an alphabet soup of codes, the following use of Wikipedia's "piped linking" technique improves the clarity of the above sentence:
Nominated for deletion asoriginal research and forlack of notability; in addition, it does not appear to be possible toverify the accuracy of the sources, as the article contains only references that are contained in unpublished manuscripts.
It is longer, but far more understandable, and contains a little context that allows someone to understand particular reasons why a policy might apply. While it may be obvious to you why a given policy applies, it may not be to others – even very experienced editors!
Always use a proper name for a Wikipedia namespace page when discussing it. If you find that you are getting sore wrists and fingers from all the typing, try to simplify or summarise the pages you are referring to, so that in future you only need to refer to a single link.
This is an encyclopedia, nottext messaging.