To add to what others have said, the original form was a rebuke: "RTFA", meaning "read the fucking article", directed at people who make ignorant comments without having read the article. I first came across it on Slashdot in the late 90s, but I imagine it may have its roots earlier than that, and possibly from somewhere else.

I think nowadays most people use "TFA" (no leading "R") in a fairly benign way, without the aggressive tone of the original.

I think it stems from RTFM, where M means "manual", going back decades.

Yes, I think that's very likely. Curious when the 'A' bit started being used, though.

Everyone’s being so diplomatic :) … it’s The Fxxxing Article…

ahhh, gotcha. that really went over my head

:) I believe it’s usually used in similar context as rtfm—-to request that the poster read the article being discussed before commenting.

Oh, I always thought it was The Featured Article

A poor substitute for "OP" - original poster.

The "Fine" Article

The Fantastic Article

The Friendly Article