You've all heard it before, but I'll say it again and accept the attacks.

This is not personal, but for all that use the 4 letter codes in Tweeters
postings or are tempted to do so. I expect some of you may use them in an
effort to make postings more concise, but that would be a false economy.

Multiply the number of people that may spend time pondering what a "VATH" or
some other 4 letter code is (anyone know how many Tweeters subscribers there
are?), times the number of seconds or minutes each would spend on the
average pondering what the code refers to, and if that would take more time
than typing the full name out both in the subject line and again after the
first use in the text, then please type out the full name out in the subject
line and again in the text after the first use. Even if a bird has been
referred to repeatedly in a recent thread in tweeters, not all of us read
all of the postings, so I may not have paid much attention to a posting
about a Varied Thrush and may not remember that VATH was Varied Thrush, but
will spend 10 seconds or more trying to think of what bird someone is
talking about to see if it is a subject is interesting to me.

It is a repeated irritant for many of us to try to decipher codes mixed into
the Tweeters postings. This is while trying to rapidly get through
innumberable e-mails of all sorts that may each take many seconds or minutes
each to sort through. I believe it is selfish to save up to 8 seconds
typing time for yourself while wasting a cumulative 500 seconds or more of
irritation time for the rest of the Tweeters subscribers.

If people want an insiders club for those who know and remember all of the
codes you might consider setting up a separate list serve for that elite
inner circle. It could be called "TWEE" (not to be confused with a Towhee
call note).

Stewart Wechsler
Ecological Consulting
West Seattle
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net

-Advice on the most site-appropriate native plants
and how to enhance habitat for the maximum diversity
of plants and animals
-Educational programs, nature walks and field trips
-Botanical Surveys


-----Original Message-----
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: VATH


This morning I heard a VATH calling in the conifers next my house.
...