Information on Acronyms and Smileys (emoticons)
Many people use Acronyms or Smileys when posting to the list.
Here are some of the most commonly used and what they mean.

Some Breed Acronyms: ASD = Anatolian Shepherd Dog; AkD = Akbash Dog; CAO = Centeral Asian Ovcharka
CO = Caucasian Ovcharka
KD = Kangal Dog; Kom = Komondor; Kuv = Kuvasz; MAO = Middle Asian Ovcharka; Pyr = Great Pyrenees; Sar = Sarplaninac; SRO = South Russian Ovcharka; TM = Tibetan Mastiff; TK = Tibetan KyiApso; OP = Owczarek Pohdalanski or Polish Tatra Sheepdog

Breed abbreviations: Kangal = Kangal Dog; Maremma = Italian Maremma Abruzzi; PyrMastiff = Pyrenean Mastiff; Tatra = (also OP) Owczarek Pohdalanski or Polish Tatra Sheepdog

Misc LGD Terms: GWD = Great White Dog (any of the <primarily> white LGDs); LGD = Livestock Guardian Dog (many breeds)

Non-LGDs often mentioned: APBT = American Pit Bull Terrier; BC = Border Collie; GSD = German Shepherd Dog

Chat Acronyms: AFK away from keyboard (to get a drink or answer the door, etc); B4 before
bbiab be back in a bit; BRB be right back; BBL be back later; BTDT been there, done that; BTW by the way; d/c disconnects; d/l download (putting stuff on YOUR computer from the internet); <EG> evil grin; EMTA evil minds think alike; FWIW for what it's worth; FYI for your information; <g> A grin; GMTA great minds think alike; GD&R grinning, ducking, and running; {{{hug}}} give someone a hug; IMHO in my humble opinion; IMNSHO in my not so humble opinion; ISP Internet Service Provider; j/k just kidding!; LOL laughing out loud; OMG expression: Oh my Gawd!; OTOH on the other hand; OIC Oh, I see; ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing; RTFM read the fine manual; TTYL talk to you later; u/l upload (sending stuff to someone else's computer); URL Universal Resource Locator; <VBG> very big grin; WRT with regard to

General text: ALL CAPS -capitalized words for emphasis (entire emails or significant portions thereof, with capitalization indicates SHOUTING!); *abcde* -asterisks around word for emphasis; _abcde_ -underlines italicized word -there are other methods to empasize some text

Emoticons or Smileys: Why use them?
Because email can be silly, serious, and even emotive; using smileys can help prevent some misunderstandings about your intent. Many people develop their own style of smiley usage. You must turn your head +90 degrees -or your terminal -90 degrees ;-) and imagine really hard. Not all smileys have noses. :) ;)

Example of how smileys make a difference:
- The weather is great! :-)
- The weather is great! :-P

:-) Your basic smilie.: This smilie is used to inflect a sarcastic or joking statement since we can't hear voice inflection over Unix.
;-) Winky smilie.: User just made a flirtatious and/or sarcastic remark. More of a "don't hit me for what I just said" smilie.
:-(: Frowning smilie. User did not like that last statement or is upset or depressed about something.
:-P: Yuck, ick.
};->: User just made a really devilish remark.
:,-(: Very sad smiley