# Posting styles you hate **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999 "2011-11-05T22:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/21 "2011-11-05T23:22:38Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I thought about putting this in MPSIMS because I don’t want to single any specific posters out, but maybe this works better in the pit. > > First, I can not _stand_ when somebody quotes a multi-paragraph OP or post and then adds one sentence as a response. You don’t need to quote the whole goddamn thing; either quote a relevant sentence or just say something like “as regards to the OP:” and then say what you want. I already read the OP, I don’t have to read it again to know what the fuck you’re talking about. > > Second, and I think this is worse, don’t over parse. Don’t quote the first sentence from a post, respond, quote the next sentence from the same post, respond, etc etc. I see some posts that have upwards of eight or ten quote boxes for a single fucking paragraph. That shit is unreadable. You break up the flow of the original post and all it says about you is that you can’t write a decent paragraph in response. Get your fucking thoughts in order and post something cohesive. It is possible to respond to a multiple point post without putting each motherfucking sentence in its own quote box. > > Anyway, I’m leaving this open for everybody to bitch about whatever they hate. oops, I think I do the first thing (like now). The only thing that really bugs me is the lack of paragraphs. My eyes go all wonky with no break in the text and I find myself reading the same line over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/22 "2011-11-05T23:28:12Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > The three I hate the most… > > The coy re-phraser. “So, what you really mean to say is that you hate Jesus and America.” > > The snark. “Okay, fine, whatever, I guess your mommy never taught you manners…” > > And the back-and-forth analysis in insane depth. “In post 645, when you said, ‘I don’t agree with you,’ you are contradicting what you said in post 348, ‘I don’t necessarily disagree with you,’ and your response that the context was different is, itself, contradicted by post 988, where you said…” Peee-yuke! > > I’m neutral on the gag one-liner post. “Oral Sex? I thought you said Oral Roberts!” I don’t admire 'em a lot, but they are often amusing. They’re a waste of time and space…but if they’re clever, they earn a grin. > > Trinopus Those reminded me of a few more things that bug me. One thing that I notice here more then other places and that people seem to see things in black and white slanted towards the holier then thou side. It seems all to often that when people post a question that answer always seems to be “Well, you need to leave him” or “Call the police” or “Quit your job…yesterday” and they seem to forget that it’s not always that easy. A few months ago I mentioned that someone that stops in at my store (a sales person) drives me nuts because he has a habit of holding my elbow or grabbing my shoulder while he’s talking to me and it bugs the piss out of me. Someone said that I need to talk to him because it’s harassment and I think they even mentioned a lawsuit. No…it’s not harassment, it’s obnoxious. Even if it does fit some legal definition of harassment, I’m not going to sue him over it. That was just a random comment in the middle of a thread. I remember a few months back someone, after hearing enough of this type of advice about a child rearing question finally said something along the lines of “Ya know, kids need more then food and shelter to grow up” Another thing, and I hear this in real life all the time as well is one someone gives very annoyingly sarcastic directions on how to do something simple. For example “Hey, have you seen Matt, I have a question for him?” “Well, there’s this thing called a _telephone_ and you press _buttons_ on it…” Can’t stand that. It’s one of the few times I’ll cut someone off mid sentence and say (in this example) “Knock it off, it was a simple yes or no question.” ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/23 "2011-11-05T23:43:17Z")
I’m _trying_ to get better, really! I blame a lot of my laziness on being lazy. The rest of it is because with the exception of this board, everyone else is lazy. No, I wouldn’t jump of a cliff because everyone was doing it, but I might wander over to see the attraction and fall off. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/24 "2011-11-05T23:48:50Z")
How do you quote specific lines within a post? I never actually learned how to do that here…⭕o ---
**Author:** ![Weston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8797f3/32.png) [@Weston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weston)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/25 "2011-11-05T23:53:12Z")
I’m pretty blasé when it comes to other people’s posting habits. I don’t really find myself getting annoyed by any of it anymore. There was one thing which used to irritate me a bit, but I got over it. Peace, enjoyment, and the kindest of kind regards, Weston [sub]Whose name is already at the top of the cunting fucking post. Christ, I HATE that! Weston.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/26 "2011-11-05T23:58:26Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > First, I can not _stand_ when somebody quotes a multi-paragraph OP or post and then adds one sentence as a response. You don’t need to quote the whole goddamn thing; either quote a relevant sentence or just say something like “as regards to the OP:” and then say what you want. I already read the OP, I don’t have to read it again to know what the fuck you’re talking about. I hate this style’s corollary: Quoting the entirety of an OP’s long post **in the first response**. The reference is right above your post; replication isn’t necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/27 "2011-11-05T23:58:46Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I laughed at the parsing, but then I wondered about the last few sentences. > > Good to know you’re just fucking with me. We have a long, proud tradition of doing that here, and I’m glad you are keeping it up. 🙂 Like I said, bitching about bitching is inherently superior to mere bitching. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/28 "2011-11-06T00:06:12Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Like I said, bitching about bitching is inherently superior to mere bitching. > > 😛 Hmm, where does bitching about bitching about bitching rank? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/29 "2011-11-06T00:22:27Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > The only thing that really bugs me is the lack of paragraphs. My eyes go all wonky with no break in the text and I find myself reading the same line over and over again. Yeah, the “wall of text” was an immediate thought on reading the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/30 "2011-11-06T00:26:44Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Like I said, bitching about bitching is inherently superior to mere bitching. > > 😛 Don’t test me, man. I’ll come over to your house and flip over your goddamn coffee table. Gaaaahh! (╯°□°)╯┻━┻ ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/31 "2011-11-06T00:34:29Z")
I parse sometimes and I have no remorse. Sometimes that’s just the way certain posts have to handled. I do hate the unnecessary excessive quoting. What drives me bonkers is putting the response ABOVE a quotation. If you don’t need to read the quotation before reading the response then just leave out the damn quote. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/32 "2011-11-06T00:51:36Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I hate it when people put the quote they are responding to at the end of their post. Guess what, I just read your whole post; I’ve already figured out what you were responding to. Thanks for nothing! Ah yes, the pernicious practice of top-posting; nobody does it here (or for long at least until “corrected”), but on other fora where it is common, it’s just fingernails on the blackboard for me. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/33 "2011-11-06T00:53:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I parse sometimes and I have no remorse. Sometimes that’s just the way certain posts have to handled. No, it’s not. I wasn’t going to single anybody out, but it was you and **Revenant Threshold** [parsing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14431848#post14431848) back and forth that made me post this thread. You both look like petty and pedantic idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/34 "2011-11-06T01:27:02Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > How do you quote specific lines within a post? I never actually learned how to do that here…⭕o Er… really? You just hit “quote”, and then delete all the stuff you don’t want. If you mean how do you quote multiple lines separately, then you quote, and then cut and past the rest into separate quote boxes. You can make your own quote boxes by highlighting text and clicking the thingy that sort of looks like a square speech bubble. Alternatively, you can just type [quote] at the beginning and [quote] at the end, but add a / before the word quote in the second one. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/35 "2011-11-06T01:38:26Z")
I just don’t agree. If someone is presenting a statement with multiple claims, facts, arguments, or whatever and each part calls for a discrete response, argument, clarification, refutation, or even agreement, parsing is pretty much indispensable. Without parsing, it’s too difficult to keep track of all the elements if a conversation. It aids in separating the wheat from the chaff and it also helps to clarify which facts, claims, arguments, etc., can be dispensed with as resolved and which are the subject of continuing discussion. It helps to highlight exactly what is in question and indeed makes the conversation sharper and clearer rather than more difficult. Indispensable, thus I intend to employ it when I find it useful. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/36 "2011-11-06T01:40:53Z")
[quote=“Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright, post:34, topic:601999”] Er… really? You just hit “quote”, and then delete all the stuff you don’t want. If you mean how do you quote multiple lines separately, then you quote, and then cut and past the rest into separate quote boxes. You can make your own quote boxes by highlighting text and clicking the thingy that sort of looks like a square speech bubble. Alternatively, you can just type [quote] at the beginning and > [@](#): > > at the end, but add a / before the word quote in the second one. Ahhhh, gracias! ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/37 "2011-11-06T01:43:30Z")
> [@Mince](#): > > Hmm, where does bitching about bitching about bitching rank? It’s utter shite. But bitching about bitching about bitching about bitching is just peachy. It’s recursive. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/38 "2011-11-06T02:04:04Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > No, it’s not. I wasn’t going to single anybody out, but it was you and **Revenant Threshold** [parsing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14431848#post14431848) back and forth that made me post this thread. > > You both look like petty and pedantic idiots. No, they look like people who care whether other people can follow their petty and pedantic disagreement. I find it helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/39 "2011-11-06T02:05:43Z")
Most of my peeves have been mentioned, but I need to add: posting links that offer no clue about what they are. Some of us have slow connections, or read and post from our phones, and it’s too much bother to click on the link. Others are reading and posting from work, so the link may be blocked or be inappropriate. Even if you don’t know how to name the hyperlink, add something like (Depeche Mode video) or (loudly cursing comedian). Please! ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999/40 "2011-11-06T02:15:45Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I just don’t agree. If someone is presenting a statement with multiple claims, facts, arguments, or whatever and each part calls for a discrete response, argument, clarification, refutation, or even agreement, parsing is pretty much indispensable. Without parsing, it’s too difficult to keep track of all the elements if a conversation. It aids in separating the wheat from the chaff and it also helps to clarify which facts, claims, arguments, etc., can be dispensed with as resolved and which are the subject of continuing discussion. It helps to highlight exactly what is in question and indeed makes the conversation sharper and clearer rather than more difficult. Indispensable, thus I intend to employ it when I find it useful. No, it is not indispensable. It is annoying and completely unnecessary. The well written paragraph can argue, refute, and keep track of all the elements of your opponent as long as you keep it cogent. Parsing does not “separate the wheat from the chaff” of your opponent; it amplifies it. A good debate does not break points into tiny little bites. That shit is pedantic. Argue against your opponent’s position as a whole rather than trying to pick each individual sentence apart. You are welcome to disagree, of course, but that doesn’t make an overly parsed post more readable. You see what I did there? I responded to a multiple point paragraph with a multiple point paragraph of my own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/posting-styles-you-hate/601999.md?page=3)