The New Home Exchange Shorthand
Home Exchange Blog
What is with this new brand of shorthand that is being used in our home exchange postings?
“Sng.sty.cot w/sm.kit,2bd,2ba. 1hr2st.cap. Cls2mtns +se.lg.lks” is hard enough for me to decipher; imagine someone whose first language doesn’t happen to be English trying to fathom what the member is trying to say!
I’ve noticed this shorthand creeping into the text of the listings more and more, and for the sake of clarity and ease of use among members, we always edit it so that it’s more user friendly and readable.
It’s regrettable that we need to do so because I think it’s especially important that each listing reflects the personality of its owner. On the other hand, a listing comprised of nothing but cryptic symbols and abbreviations does absolutely nothing to promote itself. If it’s unfathomable to fellow members they move on to the next one which is, after all, just a mouse click away.
Unfortunately, the trend is also spilling over into the contact emails being sent out. Last week a French member sent me a copy of an email she had received. I won’t quote it verbatim because I don’t want to embarrass the English member who sent it, but suffice to say it was comprised almost entirely of “sm, lg, w/, w/o, rm, bd, ba, strs, gdn, mls, mins and hrs”.
We can keep an eye on the actual listings and make sure they are legible, but the emails members send out need to make that initial great impression. The French member was courteous enough to ask for help, but I’m sure many similar emails just get deleted, and that defeats the purpose entirely.
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