Thanks, Burt, for bringing this up again. The bird-banding codes really are
inappropriate for a forum that seeks communication; they slow it down. I
tend to not read pieces where the authors make one stop reading and start
guessing what they are talking about.

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.webster at comcast.net




----- Original Message -----
From: "Guttman, Burt" <GuttmanB at evergreen.edu>
To: "tweeters-u.washington.edu" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 12:48 PM
Subject: COHA, GHOW, and all that


> 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
>