1) I was lucky enough to find people who spoke standard English at first. Actually, while I and others I know use emoticons/netspeak to some extent, I see more netspeak tendencies (ignoring the fact that one has a shift key, things like "thx" and "plz") in my conversations with people I know in real life first and then speak to on the 'net.
2) At first I was confused by netspeak, but it never caused any misunderstandings. I do tend to lurk on groups at first to see what the culture of the group is like, not just the language. That way, if I dislike the culture of the group, I can quietly withdraw without having upset the order of things.
I have, however, in the past, confused someone with my own netspeak. I emoted "snrk," which seems to be a shortened "snickers," but as I honestly don't remember where I picked it up, I just know what it means to me. I explained to the person that at least in my usage of the word, it meant amusement of some sort, because he wasn't sure how he should take it. (He was worried that it was purely derisive amusement.)
3) I picked up net/fanspeak from talking to other people who used it. I was quite guilty of using "fangirl Japanese." I looked up most things in online terms lists, but if I didn't understand fanspeak when someone used it, I generally asked the person in question for an explanation (as in, "What on earth do you mean by "WB?"). Context does not always help all that much with netspeak or fandom terms, so it's more useful overall to look up the terms or ask someone.
For example: Someone outside the FMA fandom centered on livejournal might not understand who I meant when I called a character by the nickname of "Moofy." In fact, not everyone on the livejournal community would understand. However, some people outside the livejournal community picked it up, though they don't know why they call that particular character Moofy. (I believe the first mention of it was around May 1st, and it simply...spread throughout the fandom.)
2) At first I was confused by netspeak, but it never caused any misunderstandings. I do tend to lurk on groups at first to see what the culture of the group is like, not just the language. That way, if I dislike the culture of the group, I can quietly withdraw without having upset the order of things.
I have, however, in the past, confused someone with my own netspeak. I emoted "snrk," which seems to be a shortened "snickers," but as I honestly don't remember where I picked it up, I just know what it means to me. I explained to the person that at least in my usage of the word, it meant amusement of some sort, because he wasn't sure how he should take it. (He was worried that it was purely derisive amusement.)
3) I picked up net/fanspeak from talking to other people who used it. I was quite guilty of using "fangirl Japanese." I looked up most things in online terms lists, but if I didn't understand fanspeak when someone used it, I generally asked the person in question for an explanation (as in, "What on earth do you mean by "WB?"). Context does not always help all that much with netspeak or fandom terms, so it's more useful overall to look up the terms or ask someone.
For example: Someone outside the FMA fandom centered on livejournal might not understand who I meant when I called a character by the nickname of "Moofy." In fact, not everyone on the livejournal community would understand. However, some people outside the livejournal community picked it up, though they don't know why they call that particular character Moofy. (I believe the first mention of it was around May 1st, and it simply...spread throughout the fandom.)
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