As a general rule, posters are encouraged to observe rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation to the best of their ability - habits gained from instant messengers and chat rooms are best avoided. Nobody will laugh (or even notice) if your english is not perfect, except for the occasional correction, but deliberately bad english (such as 1337 5p34|<) is often mocked unmercifully. We do have several users that point out language errors in posts, but they do so only in a friendly manner in order to make a joke or help someone learn the language better. It's not done to be cruel so please do not take it as so.

Emoticons and other "pseudo-markup" are in common use. If you have questions as to the intent of the person posting just ask them to clarify.

There are more acronyms on the Comment Board than there are in the Network+ cert study guide! How do you know what they all mean? Well, odds are you'll never know them all, as they seem to get made up on the spur of the moment, and on a daily basis. Usually the person who originates the post is nice enough to spell it out, but sometimes it's been around for weeks, meaning no one has posted the spelled out version in a long time. Feel free to ask what they mean. Some of the common ones are:

(n/t), NT, (nt), etc.
No text in post. For a fuller explanation look below.

QOTD (Usually posted by kickstart)
This is the Question of the day, to be answered by anyone who cares to comment. Kickstart is always looking for more QOTD's and he has an email address at the bottom of each QOTD where you can submit them.

TLP
This is a Top Level Post, which is a post that starts a new thread (and is not replying to any other post). Often used in reference to trying to get someone to start a diary. If the owner of the diary does not put a TLP in their diary no one else can post there.

NPOTD
This is the Naughty Poll of the Day (Sometimes the Naughty Question of the Day; NQOTD). This post is designed to provoke innuendo and some flirting. If you must post innuendo, please confine it to this thread. Although the moderators are more tolerant in this thread than in the comment board at large, there is still a certain amount of decorum to be observed. Read through previous NPOTD for a feel for what's allowed and what's not, but in any case, keep it within the bounds of good taste. Innuendo is subtle and should not be confused with crudity and rudeness.

LC
This is an abbreviation for the LateComers thread, where the people who arrive in late evening (UF server time, which is equal to Pacific Time, or GMT -8:00) gather.

DG
Refers to a defunct predecessor to the NPOTD called the Dating Game.

UF:TNG
User Friendly: The Next generation A cartoon spoof of Star Trek: The Next Generation, posted semi-regularly by Illiad. It can be found in the Cartoon Archives.

*SOTD
Song of the Day. A posting of the lyrics and credits to a song. Originally introduced by HellaHulla it has now spawned many off-shoots including PSOTD (Punk Song of the Day) and others. The original posts may have influenced all the rest of the "OTD" type posts. Song of the Day, usually posted by HellaHulla (when he's around) or bugarup, includes lyrics and credits. Was the original "OTD" (of the Day) posting, and as such ultimately was responsible for the QOTD and other board postings in that format.

LOTD
Link of the Day. A link maintained by the UF Media staff which appears on the main page for Userfriendly.org (the static page). Archives are also maintained, if you want to submit a page to appear, please make sure that it has not already been used, read through the guidelines before submitting a suggestion.

OT
Off Topic (referring to a TLP that does not address the cartoon, generally, or a second level post which does not address the TLP it is posted under.)
Note that most TLP's are no longer marked as OT due to the fact that a large portion of the TLP's do not address the cartoon directly.
However, when making an OT TLP please make sure the subject line clearly identifies the topic of your thread.

ARS
Technically it stands for "Automated Response System." However, other meanings can (and often are) attributed to it. It is the system that makes this comment board possible.

AYBABTU
All your base are belong to us
If you never heard this expression and have to look it up here count yourself lucky. This was part of a badly translated introduction to a game called Zero Wing. It spread around the Net like a virus a while ago. There is a lot more to it, but it makes us feel dirty just to post this much so if you need to know more use your favorite search engine to find it.

These are most of the recognized acronyms for threads. Most of these actually have the full name spelled out for you inside the text. There are many more, and if you run across one you don't recognize, ask about it.

• AFAIK: As Far As I Know
• FYI: For Your Information
• IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
• ROFLMAO: Rolling On Floor Laughing My Ass Off
• HTH: Hope This Helps
• BTW: By The Way
• IIRC: If I Remember Correctly
• RTFM: Read The Fine Manual
• LART: (L)user Attitude Readjustment Tool (This could be anything from a slap to the back of the head to a tactical nuclear strike)
• BOFH: Bastard Operator From Hell. Character created by Simon Travaglia and popularized in stories. More info.

There are more acronyms in use than just these, for more information, try looking in the Hacker's Jargon File. The Hacker's Jargon File was created by Eric S. Raymond.