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Message no. 1
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 02:49:27 -0400
Long ago, when I was allowed to post my collected equipment list, I needed
to
put page references to a large number of Shadowrun books into a very narrow
column. To do so, I created an abbreviation system for all of the Shadowrun
books.

I'm going to be using this system for my rework of the Sixth World, so I
thought I'd just make it available to everyone and see if anyone starts to
use it.

I call it the Shadowrun Reference Standard, and you can check it out at:

http://pobox.com/~wordman/personal/srs.html

This document is currently at what I guess would be a "draft standard"
stage.
Let me know if you have any comments.

Wordman
Message no. 2
From: Michael Orion Jackson <orion@****.CC.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 07:24:00 -0500
[snip standardized page system]

Is this kinda like a Beilstein for SR? ;^) (silly organic chemistry joke)

*****************Michael Orion Jackson******************
***********TAMS Class of 96/UT Class of 2000************
*********************Random Quote:**********************
*"Why me?" "Because you are in Natural Sciences,silly."*
********************************************************
Message no. 3
From: "Ojaste,James [NCR]" <James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 09:36:24 -0400
Wordman wrote:
> I call it the Shadowrun Reference Standard, and you can check it out at:
>
> http://pobox.com/~wordman/personal/srs.html
>
> This document is currently at what I guess would be a "draft standard"
> stage.
> Let me know if you have any comments.
>
Well, my main concern is that most of the acronyms have been forced to
3 characters, bypassing the acronyms in standard use. For example, R2
becomes RG2. The Neoanarachist's Guide to Real Life (NAGRL) becomes
GRL. Even the companion, commonly referred to here as SRC became CMP.

While having a fixed field length makes parsing stuff easier, in this
case it's followed up by a variable-length field for the page number
and even optional fields for the column and paragraph.

Thus, my suggested changes:
wak awk Awakenings
azl azt Aztlan Sourcebook
bbr bib Blood in the Boardroom
bot bd Bottled Demon
clt cdc Celtic Double-cross
csh cs Corporate Security Handbook
pir cp Cyberpirates
cyb ct Cybertechnology
agl da Dark Angel
div da Divided Assets
hnt dh Dragon Hunt
drm dc Dreamchipper
efr ef Elven Fire
eye ew Eye Witness
hr2 hb Harlequin's Back
lns ls Lone Star Sourcebook
nn1 nan1 Native American Nations Volume I
nn2 nan2 Native American Nations Volume II
gna ngna Neoanarchist's Guide to North America
grl ngrl Neoanarchist's Guide to Real Life
dun dnk Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets
que qe Queen Euphoria
rg2 r2 Rigger 2
ssb sea Seattle Sourcebook
sbt sb Shadowbeat
cmp src Shadowrun Companion (Beyond the Shadows)
sun su Shadows of the Underworld
tek st Shadowtech
sps ss Sprawl Sites
tue st Super Tuesday
tir tt Tir Tairngire
uni ub Universal Brotherhood
vtr vr Virtual Realities

James Ojaste
Message no. 4
From: "Steven A. Tinner" <bluewizard@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 16:56:29 -0400
>Wordman wrote:
>> I call it the Shadowrun Reference Standard, and you can check it out at:
>>
>> http://pobox.com/~wordman/personal/srs.html
>>
>> This document is currently at what I guess would be a "draft standard"
>> stage.
>> Let me know if you have any comments.

Well ... at least you admit on the page that it sounds anal ... ;-)
What's wrong with the BBB, BABY, UB, PAoNA, etc?
I realize that you were trying to conserve space, but as other posters have
mentioned, the abbreviations you chose are rather unclear.
If you want to get short, 4 character ID's for each book, why not use the
product code that FASA puts on the side of each book?
That would make looking sections in the book up even easier IMO. Just scan
the bookshelf for the number ...

Steven A. Tinner
bluewizard@*****.com
http://listen.to/Tinner
"Save the whales! Trade them for valuable prizes."
Message no. 5
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 18:51:29 -0400
>Thus, my suggested changes:

Most of these look good.
>dun dnk Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets

If we're going to a max of 4 characters anyway, this one might be better as
"dunk". "dnk" reads as "dink" to me.

Two questions:

1) Do James' abbreviations sound reasonable to people?

2) Would anyone besides me ever use this?

3) Is there a hyphen in "anal retentive"?

Wordman
Message no. 6
From: Lady Jestyr <jestyr@*******.COM.AU>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 08:58:04 +1000
>Most of these look good.
>>dun dnk Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets
>
>If we're going to a max of 4 characters anyway, this one might be better as
>"dunk". "dnk" reads as "dink" to me.

If you're going to four, you may as well use 'PoaD', since that's what
everyone calls it.


Lady Jestyr

- Eagles may soar, but turkeys don't get sucked into jet engines. -
jestyr@*******.com.au URL: http://www.geocities.com/~jestyr
Message no. 7
From: Trunks Ryuko <trunks@********.ORG>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard (fwd)
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 19:18:32 -0400
I hate it when I send it to the wrong addy. =(

-James
trunks@********.org

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 19:11:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Trunks Ryuko <trunks@********.org>
To: shadowrn@********.itribe.com
Subject: re: Shadowrun Reference Standard

> 1) Do James' abbreviations sound reasonable to people?
>
> 2) Would anyone besides me ever use this?
>
> 3) Is there a Hyphen in "anal retentive"?

1) Yes.
2) Maybe. Most net-people seem addicted to abbreviations.
3) Yes, and that was three Qs, not two. ;)

-James
trunks@********.org
Message no. 8
From: K is the Symbol <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 02:59:20 EDT
In a message dated 8/26/1998 3:54:43 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
bluewizard@*****.COM writes:

>
> Well ... at least you admit on the page that it sounds anal ... ;-)
> What's wrong with the BBB, BABY, UB, PAoNA, etc?
> I realize that you were trying to conserve space, but as other posters have
> mentioned, the abbreviations you chose are rather unclear.
> If you want to get short, 4 character ID's for each book, why not use the
> product code that FASA puts on the side of each book?
> That would make looking sections in the book up even easier IMO. Just scan
> the bookshelf for the number ...
>
Because Steve, many people who are into fictional material relate well to
anacronyms of this sort. Pure numeric mechanics are remembered differentlly.
And it's just plain more fun :P

-K
Message no. 9
From: "Ojaste,James [NCR]" <James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 08:57:40 -0400
Lady Jestyr wrote:
> >Most of these look good.
> >>dun dnk Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets
> >
> >If we're going to a max of 4 characters anyway, this one might be better
> as
> >"dunk". "dnk" reads as "dink" to me.
>
> If you're going to four, you may as well use 'PoaD', since that's what
> everyone calls it.
>
Well, *I* don't call it that. :-)
In RL, I tend to call it "Dunkelzahn's Secrets" (seeing as those *are*
the biggest letters on the page, I feel justified). I guess I could
live with PoaD, but I'd prefer DS or PD:DS or something.

James Ojaste
Message no. 10
From: "Ojaste,James [NCR]" <James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 09:00:29 -0400
Steven A. Tinner wrote:
> >> I call it the Shadowrun Reference Standard, and you can check it out
> at:
> >>
> >> http://pobox.com/~wordman/personal/srs.html
[snip]
> Well ... at least you admit on the page that it sounds anal ... ;-)
> What's wrong with the BBB, BABY, UB, PAoNA, etc?
> I realize that you were trying to conserve space, but as other posters
> have
> mentioned, the abbreviations you chose are rather unclear.
> If you want to get short, 4 character ID's for each book, why not use the
> product code that FASA puts on the side of each book?
> That would make looking sections in the book up even easier IMO. Just scan
> the bookshelf for the number ...
>
Ick. I'd *much* prefer using the list.standard acronyms (and making up
similar ones for the books that are infrequently mentionned). By the
numbers, I couldn't recognize UB if my life depended on it, but
everybody here (well, except the newbies) should know what UB stands
for!

It's just easier to remember, and closer to constant usage.

James Ojaste
Message no. 11
From: Alfredo B Alves <dghost@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 23:19:45 -0500
On Wed, 26 Aug 1998 18:51:29 -0400 Wordman <wordman@*******.COM> writes:
>>Thus, my suggested changes:

>Most of these look good.
>>dun dnk Portfolio of a Dragon: Dunkelzahn's Secrets

>If we're going to a max of 4 characters anyway, this one might be
>better as
>"dunk". "dnk" reads as "dink" to me.
>
>Two questions:
>
>1) Do James' abbreviations sound reasonable to people?
>
>2) Would anyone besides me ever use this?
>
>3) Is there a hyphen in "anal retentive"?
>
>Wordman

2) I'll never use it most likely but 1) James' suggestions were a bit
more intuitive and 3) I have no idea. :P~

D. Ghost
(aka Pixel, Tantrum, RuPixel)
o/` Trideo killed the Video Star ... o/`

_____________________________________________________________________
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Message no. 12
From: Wordman <wordman@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 23:33:19 -0400
I have updated the SRS site with most of James' suggested changes. I did not
use the following:

> agl da Dark Angel
> div da Divided Assets

Since "da" is suggested both cases, I made Divided Assets "da" and
Dark
Angel "angl".

>tek st Shadowtech
>tue st Super Tuesday

Since "st" is suggested both cases, I made left Super Tuesday as
"tue".

I also used "poad" for Portfolio of a Dragon, and made a couple of other
changes.

The site, again, is http://pobox.com/~wordman/personal/srs.html


Wordman
Message no. 13
From: Alfredo B Alves <dghost@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 22:59:54 -0500
On Wed, 26 Aug 1998 09:36:24 -0400 "Ojaste,James [NCR]"
<James.Ojaste@**.GC.CA> writes:
>Wordman wrote:
>>I call it the Shadowrun Reference Standard, and you can check it out
at:
>>
>>http://pobox.com/~wordman/personal/srs.html
>>
>>This document is currently at what I guess would be a "draft standard"
stage.
>>Let me know if you have any comments.

>Well, my main concern is that most of the acronyms have been forced to
>3 characters, bypassing the acronyms in standard use. For example, R2
>becomes RG2. The Neoanarachist's Guide to Real Life (NAGRL) becomes
>GRL. Even the companion, commonly referred to here as SRC became CMP.
>
>While having a fixed field length makes parsing stuff easier, in this
>case it's followed up by a variable-length field for the page number
>and even optional fields for the column and paragraph.
>
>Thus, my suggested changes:
<SNIP>
>agl da Dark Angel
>div da Divided Assets
<SNIP>
>tek st Shadowtech
<SNIP>
>tue st Super Tuesday
<SNIP>
>
>James Ojaste

A few problems with your suggestions James :)

I reccomend leaving Divided Assests as div, and changing ShadowTech ShT
and Super Tuesday to SuT

D. Ghost
(aka Pixel, Tantrum, RuPixel)
o/` Trideo killed the Video Star ... o/`

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
Message no. 14
From: Steve Eley <sfeley@***.NET>
Subject: Re: Shadowrun Reference Standard
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 10:40:32 -0400
Alfredo B Alves wrote:
>
> I reccomend leaving Divided Assests as div, and changing ShadowTech ShT
> and Super Tuesday to SuT

For all the times when _Super Tuesday_ is bandied about as a reference...


Have Fun,
- Steve Eley (FYI, IMO all TLA are DOA PDQ, but hey, NMP!)
sfeley@***.net

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