What's wrong with "leet speak"

[Rubicant]

I personally use leet speak to communicate with others that understand it and to define a situation. However, I am speaking in a pure leet sense and not speaking of such loose and bad translations of the "written language." It seems to be the problem with people is that they call themselves leet and use what they think is leet giving those that use it correctly a bad name. I feel at times that people see it as a bastardization of whatever language that leet is being used for/from. I commonly speak in the english leet system as I understand it far better then the japanese leet. What leet speak has become is a written language that people have corrupted into lolz and pwn3dorz. Leet speak is an actual written language and it should be accepted as such. It is in no way, shape or form ment to harm anyone. If someone were to post in Spanish or Japanese it would be fine but as soon as Leet comes into play people tend to flip out and say it shouldn't be allowed. This has to do with all forums and not here in particular. I would like to talk in Leet to others who understand it without being flagged or it becoming a problem.

[Akasha]

Well the first question to be answered, is what do you consider to be "leet" speak? Problems with something don't always arrise because of the issue at hand, how but people percieve it.

Is leet speak replacing letters with numbers? - I'm so 1337!!

Is leet speak the over abbreviations of words? - omg you r kool 4eva bcoz i said you r!

Is leet speak the more commonly known game words? - lol that roxors by boxors you uber lewt chuck norris that pwns!

What sort of "leet speak" are we talking about?

[grishnak]

@Rubicant : But then those who don't understand leetspeak, or don't want to make the effort reading it, wouldn't be able to read you right ?

And I'm curious of seeing the difference between good and bad leet

[Haella]

Originally Posted by Akasha

lol that roxors by boxors you uber lewt chuck norris that pwns!

This is a close Dr. Suess interpretation Akasha

[AshTokra]

It is a communication method that not everybody understands.

It is something that alienates others.

There is nothing wrong with you wanting to leet speak (what does leet stand for anyway)... however the rules of this forum are such that it is not to be used here. (thank goodness).

If someone were to post in spanish or japanese I think you would find that there would be a problem with it. Firstly there would be a reduction in responses as a heck of a lot of people on this forum don't know spanish or japanese.

Forums are about communication and this forum is an English speaking forum, by switching to another language you are reducing the chance of you actually getting an answer.

I'm sure that there are places that are completely leet speak (and I'm sure it would equally be frowned upon to go on there and speak in English, Spanish, Japanese).

[Kiralyn]

'leet speak' is used for a lot of things, but I don't see communicating information is one of them. Simple ideas, insults, 'hidden' meanings, all these things are the use. Hackers originally used 'leet' to leave hidden messages and in thier monikers. CS addicts used it to communicate short messages quickly before voice-chat programs were mainstream. Now, it is prevelantly used by pre-teens that think it roxors.

These forums are about information. I have yet to find a better source for good information about our class than what we have here, and I doubt I ever will. Trying to critique a talent bill or explaining when and how to properly use SoC is not something to be written in 'leet.' Want to put it in your sig as a way to identify yourself? I think that's fine. But using it for the sake of using it, and to an extent that people begin to skip over posts, is not what we want on these forums. Go troll the WoW boards if that is what you wish to do.

[TheSoulravager]

Fact: leetspeak is not the most understood language worldwide, even here on an internet forum.

There are only three possible reasons for using a language other than the one that is the most universally understood.
1) You do not speak it. In that case, you can either use the one you know and risk having part of your audience not understand, or learn the one that is understood by your audience.
2) You don't want to take the effort to use the language your audience understands. This will alienate most of your audience, partly because they won't understand you, and partly because they will feel you are insulting them by not putting in the effort to be understood.
3) You don't want your audience to understand you. Your message is deliberately coded, which can only mean that you are intentionally alienating them.

The original poster clearly knows English, the most universally understood (note I say UNDERSTOOD, not necessarily USED) language, English. Therefore, either (2) or (3) applies. I hope it is the second. Either way, however, the result is the same. You are alienating part, most, or all of your audience. Just food for thought. Obviously you are free to speak however you like (although in a privately run forum, you run the risk of being banned), but I fail to understand why you would want to publicly state your opinion, then intentionally state it in such a way that your audience won't want to listen to it.

[lyrax]

llt speak is like pornagrphy. There is no accurate description that suite all context but you know it when you see it

[Cabale]

Originally Posted by Rubicant

I would like to talk in Leet to others who understand it without being flagged or it becoming a problem.

J'aimerais beaucoup exprimer mes opinions dans ma langue maternelle plutôt que dans la votre. Pourtant, si je veux obtenir et partager de l'information, en bref communiquer je dois bien utliser le plus grand dénominateur commun.

Ce forum regroupe plusieurs nationalités, si en plus vous commencez à utiliser votre patois local, la richesse entrainée par une diversité constructive risque de disparaitre.






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I'd love to write in french, my mother language to express my feelings. But if I do so, I wouldn't interest most of you. Communication is about using the main common denominator for providing information.

This forum is read by many people coming from different countries, not necessarly perfectly easy with english. It's already an effort to make to participate in a constructiv way. As such, using slang or leet or whatever who reduce the scope of understanding is counterproductiv with the goal of any forum.

[TheSoulravager]

Carefully, carefully. I think some valid points are being made here. However, think carefully before using words like "troll" or "pornography" when referring to people using leetspeak. The implied meanings associated with those words will only put those who use it into defensive stance (WoW term!) and they will not listen to your point. Consider: If someone came to your house to explain all about investments and retirement strategies... they do their job perfectly, outlining completely how you can build security for yourself and your offspring in terms easily understood and comprehended. But on the way out the door, they say "so stop being such a loser and start investing". You probably will instantly forget everything they said but "loser".

Please. I say again, free speech is fine. But just becuase you CAN say something, doesn't mean you SHOULD. Think to yourself, "what can I say that will best convey my meaning?"