A good point

Over on Ivory Tower Fiber Freaks, one of the people was asking about the idea of putting the acronym "tl:dr" in her syllabus....to give the "short version" of her policy on cheating ("tl:dr: cheating, don't do it.") She asked if it was funny or inappropriate.

Well, I voted for "funny" but I also see how it could raise some problems. We are expected to submit all our syllabi to the Dean of Instruction, and while I'm not SURE she reads them all....still, something overly flip could come back to bite you. Also, sometimes syllabi are used in departmental review, as by accrediting agencies.

So, while I find it funny, I wouldn't do it.

And another person brought up an excellent point: even USING "tl:dr" in a college class might set up some problematic assumptions (as in: If the prof claims this is "too long, didn't read," then there might be other things that are too long and not worth reading)

So, someone came up with "There's no tl:dr in college!" (riffing on the old "There's no crying in baseball!" which I myself have modified; I think I actually once said, jokingly, "There's no crying in GIS!")

I like that idea. It's kind of like the temptation I have when someone asks, "Is this topic going to be on the exam" to say "EVERY topic is on the exam called LIFE" or something similarly cranky.