# Abbreviations in community posts
**URL:** https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352
**Category:** Site discussion
**Tags:** officialstyle, en, metabrainz-meeting-notes, abbreviations, style
**Created:** [May 10, 2018, 10:17am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352 "2018-05-10T10:17:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ClÃ\_psHydra](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Cl%C3%83_psHydra)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 10:17am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/1 "2018-05-10T10:17:52Z")
I really like to poke arround in posts at the MusicBrainz community forum and especially to take a look what goes around under the hood (example: Notes from #MetaBrainz Meeting). But what it makes sometimes really hard are all these used abbreviations. For some I could guess, some others I could research with a search engine others stay a big questionmark. I know that you all of you are really busy and most volunteers, but maybe could you please write on first usage the full words with abbreviation in brakets? We are not all native English speakers and sometimes abbreviations have a different meaning in other languages. The more it gets confusing…
Or maybe we could start a community area with a list of abbreviation meanings and a short explanation (with link to something more helpful)?
---
### Author:  [@reosarevok](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/reosarevok)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/2 "2018-05-10T10:34:42Z")
Hi!
Happy to try to help with some of them if you give examples, for now 🙂
---
### Author:  [@ClÃ\_psHydra](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Cl%C3%83_psHydra)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/3 "2018-05-10T14:09:51Z")
So I’ll start a try on last [“Notes from #MetaBrainz Meeting”](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/notes-from-metabrainz-meeting-2018-05-07/379342) and you say if I’m right or wrong? Just for fun/showing the dilemma I added others in parantheses.
- PR \<==\> [Pull Request](https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/making-a-pull-request) ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/PR))
- RL \<==\> [???](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/RL)
- ImmutableJS \<==\> [immutable.js](https://stackoverflow.com/tags/immutable.js/info)
- pg perf \<==\> [Profiling with perf - PostgreSQL](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Profiling_with_perf)
- DB \<==\> Database ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/DB))
- MB \<==\> MusicBrainz / MessyBrainz ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/MB))
- MBS \<==\> MusicBrainz Server ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/MBS))
- GDPR \<==\> [General Data Protection Regulation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation) ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/GDPR))
- MeB \<==\> [???](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/MEB)
- LB \<==\> ListenBrainz ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/LB))
- CB \<==\> CritiqueBrainz ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/CB))
- AB \<==\> AcousticBrainz ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/AB))
- WIP \<==\> work in progress ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/WIP))
- BB \<==\> BookBrainz ([others](https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/BB))
---
### Author:  [@Lotheric](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Lotheric)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/4 "2018-05-10T14:13:55Z")
> [@ClA\_psHydra](#):
>
> MeB
Pretty sure MeB is MetaBrainz
---
### Author:  [@reosarevok](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/reosarevok)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/5 "2018-05-10T14:39:30Z")
RL is just “real life”. MeB is MetaBrainz, yes. From the others there, “pg perf” is probably just PostgreSQL performance, because it’s been bad lately, and the rest seems right 🙂
---
### Author:  [@highstrung](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/highstrung)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/6 "2018-05-10T15:15:52Z")
I think I’ve seen “MSB” used for MessyBrainz.
RG - Release Group
AC - Artist Credit?
This might make a good [wiki](https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/) page.
---
### Author:  [@Freso](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Freso)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/7 "2018-05-10T15:25:08Z")
> [@highstrung](#):
>
> This might make a good wiki page.
And in fact, we already have a couple!:
> **[Google Code-in/Commonly used abbreviations - MusicBrainz Wiki](https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Google_Code-in/Commonly_used_abbreviations)**
> **[Terminology - MusicBrainz Wiki](https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Terminology)**
> **[MusicBrainz Slang - MusicBrainz Wiki](https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/MusicBrainz_Slang)**
But as is the case with many wiki pages, we simply don’t have enough people doing WikiWardening (see also [History:Wiki Wardening](https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/History:Wiki_Wardening)) to keep these up to date (or maybe get them consolidated). We have had a few people every not and again that do a great job, but the wiki is full of stuff, so no one person can clean up everything, and some stuff is more obscure than other, so gets looked at less often.
Anyway, more WikiWardens would definitely be most welcome. I’m happy to discuss things on [IRC](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Communication/IRC) if anyone wants to try and clean up some stuff in the wiki. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@IvanDobsky](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/IvanDobsky)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/8 "2018-05-10T17:12:31Z")
> [@Freso](#):
>
> I’m happy to discuss things on IRC if anyone wants to try and clean up some stuff in the wiki.
LOLz - the OP points out problems with TLAs and the MB community responds with requests for discussion on IRC. 😆
Which is the point - too many of us talk in slang \ jargon and this locks people out of discussions. Especially those who don’t have English as a native language. I’m a coder and soon gave up trying to read the MB Dev stuff in this forum.
Glossary:
LOLz - Lots of Laughs
OP - Original Poster
TLA - Three Letter Acronym
MB - MusicBrainz
IRC - Internet Relay Chat
---
### Author:  [@Freso](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Freso)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/9 "2018-05-11T06:40:46Z")
> [@IvanDobsky](#):
>
> too many of us talk in slang \ jargon and this locks people out of discussions. Especially those who don’t have English as a native language.
I absolutely agree that we should be mindful of not being too exclusive in the language, but some level of domain specific language is to be expected. It doesn’t make sense to mention that a Release in MusicBrainz is a «unique release (i.e. issuing) of a product on a specific date with specific release information such as the country, label, barcode and packaging» every time it is mentioned, nor does it make sense to say that Python is «an interpreted high-level programming language» (and then you’d have to explain those additional terms) every time someone mentions they’re doing something with Python, or that IRC is «an application layer protocol that facilitates communication in the form of text» which is one of the main ways we [communicate in MusicBrainz/MetaBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Communication) (another wiki page that could probably do with being more prominent). At some point adding all these explanations (over and over and over and over again) will result in too much noise-to-signal to be useful for communicating.
If you have a suggestion for how to alleviate the situation, I’m happy to hear it.
> [@IvanDobsky](#):
>
> I’m a coder and soon gave up trying to read the MB Dev stuff in this forum.
I wish you would ask instead of give up. What MB dev stuff were you trying to read that you gave up on?
> [@IvanDobsky](#):
>
> IRC - Internet Relay Chat
I’m still not sure how this would have helped. (Also, I’ve never heard/seen “IRC” called “Internet Relay Chat” informally/casually (IRC is not a MusicBrainz community specific phenomenon), similar to how you don’t unabbreviate “modem” or “laser”. It can be done for effect, but for most intents an purposes, the abbreviation _is_ the thing.)
> [@IvanDobsky](#):
>
> Glossary:
Also, you missed one:
Dev - development 🙂
---
### Author:  [@mfmeulenbelt](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/mfmeulenbelt)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2018, 9:57am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/10 "2018-05-11T09:57:22Z")
> [@IvanDobsky](#):
>
> LOLz - the OP points out problems with TLAs and the MB community responds with requests for discussion on IRC. 😆
Heh, it took years to finally kill off and bury the MusicBrainz mailing lists. At least IRC is a very direct way of communicating with people, which supplements this forum nicely.
---
### Author:  [@anon18945670](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/anon18945670)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/11 "2018-05-11T10:37:21Z")
> [@Freso](#):
>
> It doesn’t make sense to mention that a Release in MusicBrainz is a «unique release (i.e. issuing) of a product on a specific date with specific release information such as the country, label, barcode and packaging» every time it is mentioned, nor does it make sense to say that Python is «an interpreted high-level programming language» (and then you’d have to explain those additional terms) every time someone mentions they’re doing something with Python, or that IRC is «an application layer protocol that facilitates communication in the form of text» which is one of the main ways we communicate in MusicBrainz/MetaBrainz (another wiki page that could probably do with being more prominent).
At least on the forum there is a solution for that:
On the Fairphone Forum we have a [dictionary category](https://forum.fairphone.com/c/meta/dictionary) filled with wiki topics that all have a unique tag, so you can e.g. talk about [#dic:root](https://forum.fairphone.com/tags/dic:root) in a sentence without explaining what that is and someone who doesn’t understand the word gets to an explanation with just two clicks.
* * *
> [@mfmeulenbelt](#):
>
> At least IRC is a very direct way of communicating with people, which supplements this forum nicely.
Another option would be to enable PMs (private messages) in the forum and ditch IRC.
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### Author:  [@mfmeulenbelt](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/mfmeulenbelt)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/12 "2018-05-11T10:42:23Z")
But private messages are a form of 1:1 communication, while IRC is a group chat. They are quite different things, with different use cases.
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### Author:  [@anon18945670](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/anon18945670)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2018, 10:43am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/13 "2018-05-11T10:43:22Z")
You can invite as many individual people or predefined groups as you want into a Discourse PM.
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### Author:  [@InvisibleMan78](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/InvisibleMan78)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2018, 12:34pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/14 "2018-05-11T12:34:22Z")
> [@mfmeulenbelt](#):
>
> while IRC is a group chat
Do not forget the [IRC archiving option](https://chatlogs.metabrainz.org/brainzbot/musicbrainz/). You can search the IRC archive for anything that interests you.
---
### Author:  [@Freso](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Freso)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2018, 9:30am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/16 "2018-05-13T09:30:13Z")
> [@anon18945670](#):
>
> Another option would be to enable PMs (private messages) in the forum and ditch IRC.
Forum usernames are (mostly) 1:1 the same as their MusicBrainz usernames. If you want to PM someone, you can go to their profile and click the “send email” link, see e.g., [Editor “Freso” - MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/user/Freso)
> [@anon18945670](#):
>
> You can invite as many individual people or predefined groups as you want into a Discourse PM.
This still doesn’t make it a public discussion. And forum PMs are more alike to e-mails than to chat conversations, so not a replacement for IRC.
If you’re interested in following the progress for a more flexible MetaBrainz messaging system, consider following [https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/MBS-1801](https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/MBS-1801) and [https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/MBS-8721](https://tickets.metabrainz.org/browse/MBS-8721) (one of that options that have been on the table was to just integrate Discourse DMs into all the sites, if possible).
> [@anon18945670](#):
>
> On the Fairphone Forum we have a dictionary category filled with wiki topics that all have a unique tag
This might be an interesting approach. I’ll look into this. Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@anon18945670](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/anon18945670)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2018, 9:43am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/17 "2018-05-13T09:43:30Z")
> [@Freso](#):
>
> This still doesn’t make it a public discussion.
No, but for public discussions there is the forum, right?
Why spread the discussions (and therefore knowledge) on so many instances?
I know decentralization is a good thing for some things, but not if it means you have to follow multiple instances (forum, IRC, edit notes, …) to keep up with what’s going on.
---
### Author:  [@Freso](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Freso)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2018, 10:03am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/18 "2018-05-13T10:03:41Z")
> [@anon18945670](#):
>
> No, but for public discussions there is the forum, right?
And IRC, yes.
> [@anon18945670](#):
>
> Why spread the discussions (and therefore knowledge) on so many instances?
We’re actually down to 2 places now. We used to have IRC + forums + mailing lists. Our use of Discourse has effectively merged the forums and mailing lists (you can interface with Discourse as a mailing list if you wish), but people who prefer a more instant, short-form communication such as chatting will not be happy with Discourse, and for some things (like the [Monday meetings](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/MetaBrainz_Meeting) and [system maintenance coordination](https://chatlogs.metabrainz.org/brainzbot/metabrainz/msg/4175019/) and [idle chatter](https://chatlogs.metabrainz.org/brainzbot/musicbrainz/msg/4175613/)) this format just works better.
FWIW, discussions also take place on the [ticket tracker](https://tickets.metabrainz.org/), in [blog posts and comments](https://blog.musicbrainz.org/), in edit notes, and probably elsewhere. We’re going to lose interactions with/between a number of contributors if we cut out IRC, so we’re rather looking into cutting down on the other places where discussion happens, rather than cut IRC out as things look right now.
---
### Author:  [@anon18945670](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/anon18945670)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2018, 10:08am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/19 "2018-05-13T10:08:32Z")
> [@Freso](#):
>
> FWIW
How did you do that? 😮
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### Author:  [@Freso](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Freso)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2018, 10:14am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/20 "2018-05-13T10:14:14Z")
[Magic. 🧙](https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/REC-html52-20171214/textlevel-semantics.html#the-abbr-element) 😉
---
### Author:  [@anon18945670](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/anon18945670)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2018, 10:39am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352/21 "2018-05-13T10:39:30Z")
Awesome. For abbreviations this clearly works better than unique tags.
In combination with the [FoxReplace](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/foxreplace/?src=search) addon for firefox you can set this up to automatically happen for some common abbreviations like: AFAIK, FYI, TL;DR, etc…
[Next page](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/abbreviations-in-community-posts/379352.md?page=2)