This'll be an interesting thread...

I don't use it, myself. I don't see any reason not to type out words in their entirety; I have enough time to do so, and I know that some people are bothered by it and/or don't understand it, and it takes longer to read and I don't want to make things difficult for other people. Besides, some things just aren't... Correct. Like LOL. When people use it, they aren't generally laughing. Or GTG, which isn't a complete sentence. *blinks* All right, sorry. I just typed out a sentence fragment complaining about something being a sentence fragment, which is ridiculous, pointless, and extremely hypocritical. However, if I were to use commas rather than periods whenever it was correct, everything I wrote would end up as these dreadfully long sentences taking up the entire post, which would be slightly confusing and probably nearly entirely paragraphless. My sentences are long enough already, I think. But you should see the papers I write for school, with commas in all the right places. Those sentences go on forever. I'm actually quite lucky that none of the teachers have seemed to mind so far...

Also, there's the possibility of not being understood. Some people don't understand text talk. When I first joined, I had no idea what BTW, for example, meant. I knew that LOL showed amusement somehow, and that was literally all. Fortunately, an equally oblivious person decided to ask for an Internet dictionary around that time, so all I had to do was read it. Still, though, I don't want to confuse anyone.

However, I've nothing against others using a bit of text talk. There's a limit, but I'm certainly not to complain just because someone say 'btw' or 'ppl.' That I don't mind at all. However, too much is too much. If someone said, "lol yeah i luvd that movie 2," for example, and they continued to keep doing such things for a long time, I'd complain, unless someone else did first. It's just annoying to see that. Typing out real words really isn't that difficult.

I don't mind LOL and GTG (which I happen to use myself) but I find it a bit annoying sometimes if you post in Inkwell and you use complete text talk, since your in Inkwell. But anywhere else, I don't really mind. ;-) 

i think of text talk not as another language but as plenty of abbreviations. i use them cuz they make my replies quicker, and easier if i can remember them.

so as... r (are), u (you), i (I), o (oh), k(okay), kay, (okay), L (loser...), zzz(tired, boring), c (sea, see), b (be, bee), ppl (people) g2g (got to go), l8t, l8tr, (late, later), allig8tor(alligator but this one isnt really an abbreviation.), btw (bytheway), brb (be right back), g (gee), g-z (jeez), etc.. thats all i can think of off the top of my head 

I don't really to text talk, because 1.) Sometimes, people don't understand what you mean. & 2.) I prefer writing the whole word. :) I sometimes use Ttfn or Ttyl for the end of letters, but I don't really use LOL just because people use it so much! I don't have a problem with peoplse using text talk, as long as every other word isn't txt. :)

I am not a big fan of Text Talk myself, although I have to admit that I use TTYl and L8r alot....Agreeing with Ima, I don't really like when people make a whole string of text talk in a sentence....that can be hard to understand, and also pretty annoying for people like me who like things a certain way... so, yeah, that's about it... Claire :)

I think that the current level of text talk on the ChatterBox (low) is perfectly fine.

"lol" is one thing entirely. It is extremely well known. But I do find it annoying that some people have such a grudge against vowels that they insist upon leaving them entirely out. I also dislike it when people don't capitallize, or use apostrophes, just because it's hard to read. There's a reason punctuation, capitalization, and proper spacing were invented. itssoyoudonthavetoreadsentanceslikethis.