I wouldn’t worry too much about it; there are a lot of posters on the SDMB who aren’t happy unless they’re complaining. Not aiming that at this thread, just a general comment on the boards.
" . . . what [ so and so ]said, only so much better than I ever could.
Where the hell did this nauseating habit come from? I’m all for showing support for other peoples’ opinions and agreeing when applicable, but why the need for the blow job?
This was hilarious. Like anything, the Soviet Russia comments can be overdone. But in the right context, they can most definitely be funny.
What about its other cousin, “Am I the only one who . . . ?”, especially when you KNOW you cannot possibly be the only one who ________ .
Yep. Somewhat egocentric but the worst is when you gave the perfectly good answer in post 13 and no one comments on it, then someone basically repeats it in post 25 and gets hip hip hoorays for it.
I wonder how many people don’t know that the Soviet Russia comments are from a comedian who was pretty popular for awhile in the 80s named Yakov Smirnoff, and not from The Simpsons or the SDMB. I’m 27 and I just barely remember him and I know there are lots of people here now younger than me.
I know it from Slashdot, where it seems that every thread longer than about 50 posts has a Soviet Russia gag in it. I had presumed it was from Saturday Night Live or something. And while I’m sure it was hilarious in context, out of context it is totally unfunny.
I guess I know now how people who’ve never seen Monty Python feel when fans start up with “nobody expects the Spanish Inquistion” stuff etc. I mean, I find it slightly tedious too but at least I know what they’re on about.
I remember a clarification post about this from one of the mods or maybe Tuba. Anyway the gist of it was if you use quote tags you cannot alter text but you could paraphrase someone using the “____” symbols.
And it’s red-headed stepchild, “Psst, see post XX.” Seriously what is the point of that?
Cite?
The people who ask this are usually those with no basis for whatever they’ve just posted, they disagree with you, and they want to maintain some level of internet superiority over a complete stranger. They will demand proof from you to back up whatever you’ve said, the implication being that whatever they’ve said is somehow beyond reproach because, you know, they’re special.
Psst, see post #4.
don’t you dare cite an earlier post
No, and that’s exactly the point. Smirnov’s entire career was based on variations of that one formula. In context, it was very popular but not all that funny. Out of context, it can be very funny, which is enhanced by the unfuniness of the original joke. Although like any joke it gets less funny when you hear it every day.
For example, these jokes are much funnier when you get the chance to use them on an honest-to-proletariat Communist.
There’s a place for this, and that place is Great Debates or sometimes General Questions – not IMHO or the Pit.
“Tone of voice” (tone of type?) is obviously an issue here. If somebody makes a ludicrous statement, then “Cite?” is a perfectly reasonable response. Most of the time, though, something a little less concise (and perhaps more polite) is in order; something along the lines of “Do you know of any independent scientific studies that support the statistics in your third paragraph?”
Hey, my kitty’s name is Kitty. 'Cuz she’s a kitty.
I like kitteh, too, but it is a bit trendeh.
I just hear Cartman whenever I see that word, I thought that was where it came from.
As for “cite” I admit to using it as a short way of saying “Care to back up the ridiculous statement?”, but agree that the only place that’s really appropriate to do that is in GQ or GD. If you want to link to a cite yourself, more power to you.
Maybe I’m missing something. Wouldn’t “kitteh” be pronounced completely differently than “kitty?” Rhymes with “meh”? So it’s a mispronunciation as well as a misspelling.
The worst is when people get into a war and start saying “cite where I said this,” “cite where I said that.” And then it turns into a semantic war about the meanings of the words people are using and people start pasting definitions from m-w.com and arguing over them. I just want to puke when that happens.
Here’s a tip: If you use a word to mean one thing, and it turns out to mean something else, just state you meant X and word Y wasn’t the best choice and you won’t choose it again.
If you’re warring with the person in the example above, accept that they meant what they say they meant and move on.
Here’s another tip: Don’t ever try to use that method of argument in real life. You are likely to get punched, even in polite company.
I read through the first page only, but it seems most of the cases are being attributed as particular to SDMB when they’re really just general message boardisms (in fact on reconsideration, all of them - I thought for a moment that the -name, profession - signature was special but I do recall seeing it on other boards where rather specific questions were being answered). This thread would make it appear that most of this board’s members landed on this board on their first browsing session and never moved off it… ever. It’s sort of quaint and pathetic at the same time.
:rolleyes:. My old philosophy professor would write this out something like: Just because snees wear snozzles doesn’t mean snoozles don’t wear snozzles, too (and then later on she would write it in symbols that I don’t remeber :p.) The point being: duh. It’s not as if we don’t know that this stuff happens elsewhere. We’re talking about here.
Oh, and read the thread next time. Plenty of people have already said what you said.
It’s politer than the alternative - “Bullshit!”
I hate it when people use excuses like “I haven’t had enough coffee yet” or whatever to account for their mistakes. The implication being that, in normal circumstances, they would be infallible, and that only this lack of sleep / too much sleep / too little or too much coffee can account for them posting stuff that is less than brilliant or completely correct. They can’t just admit that Yep, they got it wrong.
I mean, coffee is the most pathetic thing to be dependent on. It doesn’t even do anything much. Alcoholics and crackheads at least get to go on mindbending journeys into the darkest recesses of their psyches. Caffeine junkies just get… maybe a little edgy?