Usually these are the shorthand terms that I use:
brb
lol
rofl
btw
And no, I'm usually not 'laughing out loud' when I say lol, but if I find something extremely funny and I really am laughing I will either use LOL in all caps or say "rofl", because that seems more powerful then a small "lol". I use "lol" when someone says a joke or something intended to be humorous, even if it's not knee slapping funny. Plus, it helps keep the conversation going. "lol" is like smiling or chuckling on the internet. you could use a '
' smilie, but lol works in the same way.
And the other short hand terms are just useful.
But, I do not shorten every word, and I dont use most of that stupid internet lingo. I absolutely HATE it when people spell "cool" "kewl". What is the damn purpose of doing that? I also hate it when people type with no regard to grammar, and their sentances look like this "What do u want 2 do 2day? Thx a lot!"
I was actually talking to someone on MSN a while back, and they asked me why I talked in full sentances and spelt everything out. I simply replied "I dont like to look like a jack ass. It's not that hard, and it's easier to read."