In the post below, taken from elsewhere on the board, someone tells an anecdote about Bill Clinton. I left them anonymous because I don’t want to pick on them specifically, but rather on the whole group of people who do similar things.
This is very annoying. What is the point of this post? It can have absolutely no significance to anyone but yourself. Either tell the whole story, or keep the whole thing to yourself. Don’t try to be so fucking cute about it. The fact that he answered yes to a question you asked is irrelevant if we don’t know the question. Your vague explanation at the end is so open-ended as to be meaningless.
I don’t even know why people bother to saying things like this. It’s like second-graders taunting each other on the playground: “I know a BIG secret, but I’m not telling! Tee hee hee!”
Is it some kind of pathetic power trip? They’re hoping people will start begging them to tell the rest of the story, so that they can take pleasure in saying no?
Or maybe they just feel insecure and need to demonstrate their superiority, because they know something we don’t. They’re better than us, because if we were as good as them, we’d know it too! Maybe it’s basically just a thinly-veiled form of bragging.
Regardless: I realize that this is usually not done consciously, but it’s still incredibly lame, childish, and annoying. If you’re one of the people who does this, please stop it. Now.
“In a few years time I am going to post this anecdote on an internet message board, but not tell anybody the question I am going to ask you. Am I a dick?”
Preach it, Absolute. This sort of thing drives me batshit insane. I remarked that I thought he ought to be banned for that behavior, but I had to do it with a wink smiley because of the venue, so now I can take back that smiley and tell him to go fuck himself.
That kind of crap isn’t cute. It’s annoying. And you’re eventually going to HAVE to go fuck yourself, because nobody else will have you.
Now, see, you’re more charitable than I am; I pretty much assume the kind of people who do this are doing it consciously, for one or more of the reasons you posited (most often the “pathetic power trip” one).
My solution (which has taken years of practice) is not to give 'em the satisfaction of my curiosity. I usually just say, "Really? Hmmm . . . " in a blow-off (no pun intended, given the context of this thread ;)) tone and change the subject.
I hate people who don’t tell the whole story. For instance, people who tell us about a person who broke an Internet pet peeve and then not telling us who it was
