lol or in another way , I have nothing to say .
Am I the only person who gets pissed of by the use of "lol" it really aggravates me .I like chatting on internet forums but get seriously pisses off when people just put "lol" Christ is there nothing else that these people can think of saying .And dont get me started on these fffing smilies .

lol annoys me too, most of the time it means nothing anymore, its not exactly as if the person is actually 'laughing out loud'. For some reason lol always make me think of a tongue lolling out the side of someone's mouth, like some drunk.

Although I do tend to use smileys on the forum, it sometimes helps defuse a potential misunderstanding or adds a bit of expression to a comment that might usually be accompanied by a facial expression in a real conversation.

I think a lot of us here have our own likes and dislikes when it comes to communicating online (poor grammar, disregard for correct punctuation and shit spelling are some of my own dislikes, but, hey, each to their own.......)

Oooooh that's one thing I never knew, Wow, I must have annoyed you a fair few time eh Stu.

I suppose so... Have always wondered myself, about the over usage "lol" gets but thought...what the hell, this is cyber world and the rules differ slightly from reality <<<<smiles>>>>

Incidentally, having just spent a while going through some old posts here, it is worth noting that some of the most articulate members on the forum make ample use of smileys in their posts, as a form of expression. It also occurred to me that lot of smiley usage here is relative to the on- and off-line relationships that various members have between each other, and is often the result of personal, or long-standing onlines jokes between various members.

As previously mentioned, my own gripe is with lazy grammar and typed punctuation (15 errors in the original post of this thread), and I often feel the urge to go and correct people's posts (typos excluded), but I don't - it is how they write and express themselves, it's their business, not mine. Ditto for smiley usage.

You're a diamond you, Stu

Thanks Kizz, you're a gem too.....

Hmmm 15 mistakes . Well I guess that we all have our little faults don't we .Bad grammar and punctuation is hardly a defect of ones character compared with having nothing to say or relying on smileys to express one self.
Not meaning yourself Stu by the way !! Punctuation and grammar has never been a strong point of mine ho hum . But hey its an Internet forum not an English exam .

I hate seeing the letters 'lol' pretty much anywhere, the smileys I can live with, in fact, they are needed really, cos when you read someone's message, you can't sometimes tell in which way to take it.

I wouldn't look down on someone who writes 'lol' in a message, but my heart does sink a little every time I see it, it is a bit like text-speak to me...

So I could say that when I come on here I feel , and when someone smiles at my posts I feel , when 'someone' calls my car shit I feel , and finally when I read the boobie thread i feel

(lol)

I don't like LOL either, but I think the smilies help to break down the blocks of words that may appear 'too wordy' for some folk to bother reading.

On IM I do think 'lol' is used a bit like 'ok' and 'I hear what you're saying' especially when wanting to let someone know that they're still there, or for sending a quick response while the person is writing something longer.

I'm guilty of a load of mis-spelling, adding extra letters and shortening words, but must say that it's often beacuse I'm slipping as I'm typing and don't always check before posting.

You will see me use 'cos, 'wanna' and 'gona' quite often because that is how I talk........but if I was writing an article for publication or formal letters I would use the grammar correctly.

There are so many different ways for communicating with written text, and what applies to one situation doesn't always apply to another other. If I'm on the phone, it's more a 'speed writing' style as there is a price attached to the message or I might be out of credits, so brief is best. Then some sites reply boxes do not have enough space for what you want to say unless it's shortened or has a continuation.

I suppose the style I use on the forum is an odd mixture as sometimes I just want to write as I speak, other times I want to explain or write something that I hope will be read and absorbed rather than have the quick response.

I'm guilty OF returning to edit some of my posts if I later see an error

I love 'lol'. It lets me get away with all sorts of comments I wouldn't normally by making it seem like a joke lol
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