I was checking my friendster account when I got this message:

"ztah my friend"

I was like "wtf!?" (to the one who sent me this message, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I'm just trying to make a point ^^;)

kamusta --> musta --> ztah?!
tapos --> tas (and if they're feeling maarte, it's taz wtf)
ako --> akew/kew --> q (what the hell!)

These are utterly unacceptable! I mean c'mon! I understand about the character limitation of a sms feature but it's for short messages only. Short Messaging System. Duh! Imagine reading a novela long text message shortened with all these uber abbreviated words. Vowels? Are you still there? Hello?!

Another bad thing about these text speak is using it when posting in forums. I've been in an online community for years and I've seen worse. Apparently, forums have higher character limitation so I don't see the point why they should still use text speak. Text speak + not using proper punctuation + one paragraph + lots of "..." + all small caps = throbbing head. Honestly I used to be like that (minus the text speak). It changed when I started posting in this US-based community. The admin noticed on how I post and from then on, I make sure that everything is right XD