I’m not sure I get the complaint. Would you prefer posters describe the link in excruciating detail, obviating the need to even click it? Seems a bit overkill to me… Could you point out some examples or come up with one yourself? Perhaps a link that would make this post make sense?
For example:
“What is your favorite scene in any TV show?”
Bad reply: “This” (assume a link on the word “This”.)
Good reply: “When Spike counts his five words on Buffy” (Assume a link somewhere in that).
Anyway, another thing that bothers me is when somebody searches for a thread, finds it, then links to the thread with the search term highlighted. C’mon, can’t you be bothered to remove the “&highlight=ThisBothersMe” tag?
I once considered just writing a pit thread about the rolleyes smilie, but, you know, I was just too lazy to do it. Use it to describe some off-board situation sure, but directing it at other posters is just being a fucknut.
It really is the calling card of the moron. Every time I see it I picture some fat greasy little cretin puffing the bangs out of their eyes before deigning to write some stupid reply with what they think is cutting wit. If all you can offer for a reply is the internet version of Kevin the teenager, then perhaps you should just fuck off.
There is one user here who uses it all the time. The thing is, she is notorious for having a completely fucking useless life, who is she to roll her fucking eyes at anybody? Bitch too dumb’t know it though.
Heh. Jinx. I owe you a Coke.
Number one to me is the people who post without reading the rest of the thread first. That’s actually one of the reasons I post so little in the Pit. All of the active threads seem to have hundreds of replies, and I don’t want to read that much before commenting – but that doesn’t stop a lot of people from just dashing off a response that’s been dealt with already.
the 2nd has to be … intentional flouting of language conventions … like punctuation and capitalization and paragraphing … and all those other things that make your writing readable
A personal little pet peeve is references we can’t all follow. For example, “the comment at the top of page 3 of that thread.” It may be page 3 to you, but it would be halfway down page 1 for me and the top of page 7 for someone else, depending on our “posts per page” settings. Other example would be links to expired searches, links to paid content, and links to pages that require registration.
People who think they can’t swear outside the Pit, and people who think they have to swear in the Pit. Adding, “Oh, yeah – this is the Pit – shit piss fuck” to the end of your post just isn’t funny anymore. Nor is “s**t” or “G*d” outside the Pit. Either find a different word or just spit it out. Except in thread titles. Keep those clean, please, for when I read the Dope at work.
On the other hand, I just don’t see all the hate for signoffs. Who cares, as long as they’re short and sweet?
This bothers me much more since I’ve become a moderator because we actually have a board rule against it.
I despise posts that are obviously going against the grain, followed by 100 carriage returns, followed by a smiley face to show everyone you were really kidding. Ho! Ho! I was shaking my head at you while scrolling, then I kept scrolling until I got to your winking smiley! Ya got me! What a card!
I hate it when people post before they get to the end of the thread. It’s an- FUCK!! Dammit Wombat!
I can’t stand I read the title as this type posts. What’s supposed to be funny about the fact that you can’t read? At least make a pun or something if you want to make a joke.
Also in Soviet Russia stuff didn’t originate on the boards and memes are just a way of people who aren’t funny trying too hard.
Quoting an entire very long post.
Lack of paragraphs.
Links with no clue as to what they might be.
Here’s another one I’ve thought of: referring to a consensus of opinion as a ‘circle jerk’. And/or pre-empting one’s opponents as ‘the usual suspects’.
It’s annoying because it mischaracterises any thoughtful opposition to one’s opinion as part of a herd mentality, and deems anyone who opposes the position in any way a circle-jerking usual suspect. It’s dishonest and ultimately devalues the argument it’s trying to uphold.
I also note that the phrase is not used when the broad consensus of opinion happens to coincide with one’s own.
Of course, you’re over-formatting here to emphasize your argument.
You assume most dopers are aware of how URLs work? I honestly think this is an ignorance problem. Just like using an image that can’t be hotlinked or using a search URL as a link.
My pet peeves list is rather small, I think. The only one mentioned here that bugs me is refusing to use the built in quotes. I know why they do it, but I think the reason is stupid. It is not misleading to have the first line of the quote box not actually be a quote.
My contribution to this thread: I prefer “snarky answers to thread titles” threads to people actually putting them into the thread. And other inthread snark also needs to be at least slightly funny. Otherwise, just use plain sarcasm.
That’s a good idea.
Yeah. Another common one is Americans coming in to discussions about football/soccer and telling everyone that they game is “for pussies” and they’ll show us “real football”.
rolleyes
(And I even like American Football!)
And another one:
Assholes who do exactly the thing a person is complaining about, in the misguided belief that it is somehow funny.
Closely related to the link with no description is the reply with no explanation. TO use an example, there’s a thread in The Game Room right now about what’s the most embarrassing sports play you’ve seen and MOIDALIZE came out with this gem:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14420201&postcount=34
OK. So who is Chris Webber? What sport is he playing? When was this? What happened? Why was it embarrassing?
No link, no explanation, no video. I guess we’re either supposed to know or the poster is just a lazy shit.
People who link to a multipage thread, rather than link to the specific post they are referring too. I don’t want to slog through pages of conversation to get the reference you’re trying to make. Double if they don’t bother to give the post #.
My grandparents gave me a book published in the 1930s called something like “How to Annoy People”. One of the techniques was to get the biggest Sunday newspaper you can find, wrap a note round it saying “There’s something in here that concerns you, that I think you’ll find VERY interesting..!” then mail it to your friend. Love it!
Even worse are these as an OP:
I think this is more just a cultural divide problem. Chris Webber’s phantom timeout is the most famous play in American college basketball history. I hate college basketball, but the play is instantly recognizable to me.