[Tweeters] Please decode your acronyms

[Ted Ryan via Tweeters]

I think there is a balance here to consider.  On the one hand, we don't want to make it overly burdensome for a new birder to participate.  On the other hand, I don't think new folks to a hobby should expect no barriers with regards to nomenclature.  All hobbies have acronyms and words that we have to learn.  That's part of the hobby, that's part of the experience and it's inescapable.  I think the OP will find that learning the acronyms will aid in your enjoyment.

Besides, If we remove such things than all birds are just LBJ's and where does that get us?

Ted Ryan
South Kitsap, WA



> As do basically all newer birders. As someone who?s worked with newer

> birders a lot over the years (I ran the Santa Clara County version of

> tweeters for over a decade, among other things) I?ve talked to and worked a

> lot with our less senior partners, and when two senior birders start

> chattering in this shorthand, it tends to make them feel excluded and

> intimidated. It?s not a welcoming thing to birders trying to grow into

> their adult feathers.

> 

> Because of that, I stopped using the acronyms in casual communications

> where the new birders will be looking in long ago (or I?m careful  to

> always put the term in context in the note) and I generally discouraged

> random use of them in open forums like this. And I think, if you want new

> birders to feel part of our community and grow up to be more senior birders

> along with us, that we do so as well.

> 

> Chuq


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