This is a quick guide to some of the acronyms (and other things) used on
rec.arts.drwho as an addendum to the Friendly Guide for Newbies (which I
also wrote). I've included most things I could think of (although I've
limited it to radw specific acronyms in a few cases), except story titles
(eg GSITG - Greatest Show In The Galaxy). If people think that would be a
good idea, just email me at

smithrj2@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca

and let me know. Naturally, if there's something that you think I've
left out, do let me know!

abdw            alt.binaries.drwho
adwc            alt.drwho.creative
AFAIR           As Far As I Recall
AFAIK           As Far As I Know
afdw            alt.fan.drwho
ASCII           American Standard Code for Information Interchange
BFN             Bye For Now
BBS             Bulletin Board Systems
BTDT            Been There, Done that
BTW             By The Way
FAQ             Frequently Asked Questions
FOAD            Fuck Off And Die
FTP             File Transfer Protocol
FWIW            For What it's Worth
FYI             For Your Information
HTTP            HyperText Transfer Protocol
HTML            HyperText Markup Language
IAs             Internet Adventures (found on adwc)
IIRC            If I Recall Correctly
IMHO            In My Humble Opinion (plus variations)
IRL             In Real Life
ISTR            I Seem To Recall
LOL             Laughing Out Loud
MOPPeT          My Own Personal PEt Theory
OTOH            On The Other Hand
radw            rec.arts.drwho
radwi           rec.arts.drwho.info
ROTFL           Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLMAO        Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Arse/Ass Off
SNAFU           Situation Normal, All Fucked Up
TTFN            Ta Ta For Now
TTYL            Talk To You Later
umtsdw          uk.media.tv.sf.drwho
WRT             With Respect To
WWW             World-Wide Web
YAVSMAINGTTTY   You're A Very Silly Man And I'm Not Going To Talk To You
YHBT            You Have Been Trolled
YMMV            Your Mileage May Vary

Section 2. Smileys

'Smileys' are emoticons used to indicate emotion (which can be open to
misinterpretation with the lack of facial expressions etc on the net).
Essentially they take the place of vocal inflection in normal
conversation. A word of warning, however: a lack of smiley does not always
mean someone is being serious (just as someone may deadpan a witticism in
real life) and in rare cases, someone may use the cover of a smiley to
flame or insult you (the way someone might choose to insult you under
the pretext of kidding around).

There are lots of variations (lots more than I've put here), but the main
ones are happy and sad. If you think your humour may be open to
misinterpretation, it's usually better to err on the side of too many
smileys rather than too few.

:-) or :)       Happy face
:-( or :(       Sad face
:-|             Neutral
:-?             Tongue in Cheek
             
           

Section 3: Miscellaneous

ObWho           "Obligatory Who Reference". This is usually used when the
                majority of the post is off topic, but can be tied back to
                DW with a small reference. There are lots of variations.

Retcon          "Retroactive Continuity". This is a reinterpretation of
                past events, ala John Peel's forthcoming War of the Daleks.
                The working definition is "What you thought you saw/read
                wasn't necessarily what happened"

Frocks and Guns These derive from Gareth Roberts' line that "The NAs
                should have more frocks, less guns". A "gun" story is one
                with lots of hardware, military stuff and boyz-own
                plotting (eg Earthshock). A "frock" story is one on a
                much smaller scale, usually concerned with afew people
                (invariably in fabulous frocks) and personal relationships
                (Eg The Happiness Patrol)

 - Robert Smith?