[holymoly]

Not long ago I saw an a news report related to this. A high-school English teacher said his students were using this crap in their homework. As an example, he showed homework in which students had used "b/c" in place of "because". He said it makes him want to scream.

Dear "1337" students:
Don't worry. McDonalds and Burger King are always hiring.

[supercat]

As an example, he showed homework in which students had used "b/c" in place of "because". He said it makes him want to scream.

The use of "b/c" for because long predates computers, as do "w/", "w/o", and other such notations.