I enjoy reading reports of what people have been seeing lately. But what I
don't enjoy at all is trying to decipher the %$# at *$% four-letter
abbreviations for species names some of you insist on using before I can
figure out what you've seen. I understand there is a standard index of
these abbreviations that is very useful--essential, maybe--for bird-banders.
But I'm not a bird-bander, as most Tweets are not, and I see no point in
making the rest of us suffer through a guessing game in order to read your
posts. This issue has come up on Tweeters before, and the consensus has
been that the abbreviations are a nuisance. You probably need less effort
to type a few letters to write the full name than to remember the right
abbreviation. I'm ready to ask the listowners to ban their use. But rather
than trying to legislate goodness, I want to simply appeal to everyone's
common sense, good will, and generosity of spirit, and hope that you'll
refrain from now on.

Burt Guttman guttmanb at evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 360-456-8447
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S.E., Olympia 98503