I’ve mentioned it before, but the fact that by the time I arrive in a thread there’s nothing more to state. I share the same opinion with a lot of posters and don’t like to just post a “yeah, me too.”
So I lurk a lot.
“The plural of anecdote is not data!”
Oh really. What if I told you about how one of my rats behaved during a trial while I was in graduate school? What if someone brought up the characteristics of real colonial houses and I shared what I found as we restored our circa 1760 house over the past 6 years? What if shared details of an illness I had? Would it make a difference if I told you that the same information was given to doctors who used it as a case study (true)? What if I shared the details of my daughters death who died from one of the rarest genetic diseases known (50 known deaths worldwide)? I studied everything I could while she was dying and no infinitely more than most doctors because hardly any of them have ever heard of it.
What if someone makes the claim that no Eagle Scout has ever been convicted of caipital murder and someone reports that they have a brother that is both? It is both arrogant and ignorant to blindly assume that certain types of reports are correct and others are usually wrong. It takes a brain to sort out the difference based on the question at hand.
BTW, a collection of anecdotes is most certainly data and always has been otherwise, we would just burn all of the old diaries, accounts of explorers, and eye witness accounts because they are just a waste of paper.
I’m agnostic, but get bored with the Anti-religion posts and posters.
I have been against the war from the beginning and am not to impressed with our current president, but get bored with the continuous rantings on him. Most especially the trivial ones.
I have agreed with the posters who don’t get the fascination with how people wipe themselves and similar dreck.
People who bitch about punctuation. I mean really. We can’t all be rocket scientists ? Am I right ?
Oh yeah , and people who stop by just to be hateful. Keep your hate in your head with all the other crazy garbage you think. I’m sure some how I’ll get by without it.
A more broad criticism I could level against those who nitpick the letter of the message instead of responding to the spirit of the post. The most recent example being the Straight Men, Intimacy and Porn thread, where Mr. Smith got the nitpickers’ treatment, instead of everyone debating the broader issue of whether “porn with a plot and real characters” could exist and be profitable or not (which they eventually did, before the thread died).
I am also pretty sick of the endless atheism/theism posts, which are so predictable it isn’t funny, as everyone talks past each other and props up the usual collection of straw men. Has anyone changed their mind in one of those debates? A pointless waste of bandwidth.
I agree, but the flip side of this is people who can’t seem to be bothered to capitalize or punctuate anything, at the expense of clarity and readability. These people tend to be new posters, and either change quickly or stop posting. I don’t tend to pick at people’s spelling or typing (unless it’s funny), but when there’s a lack of effort or ability to make oneself clear, it bothers me.
The little periods of downtime bother the heck out of me, but it’s nothing major.
As stated above, the constant, endless Bush-bashing. I’m no fan of W, but the incessant narration of outrage is just tedious. It reminds me a lot of listening to my dad’s constant rants about Clinton during the '90s. “OK, Dad, I got it: you hate him. Can we talk about something else now?”
The way debates seem inevitably to become about themselves, rather than about the topic at hand.
“You said X; clearly you mean puppies should be raped.”
“Read my post! I didn’t say X!”
“YOU look at your last post, wherein you said X!”
“I didn’t say X! You’re deliberately misreading my post! It’s a multiplication sign!”
…for five pages.
And the stupid, obvious jokes. “How YOU doin’?” “Hi Opal.” “1920’s style death rays.” Etc. The first time it’s witty; after that it becomes a substitute for wit.
The thing that bothers me most is the folks that just can’t be troubled to read the thread before posting to it. Maybe some of these threads wouldn’t be six pages long if people weren’t repeating what everyone else has already said.
The "Bush Robbed? " thread is a good example. Post #8 shows definitively that Bush’s watch wasn’t stolen, and people are still posting as if it’s true (or at least possible).
Another pet peeve is the people who blast off an angry rebuttal to a specific post without reading the entire post. Don’t just trigger on one sentence (or even one word) out of context!
The stupid obvious jokes don’t bother me if they’re part of an otherwise on-topic post. If a response to a serious question consists of nothing but a lame attempt at humor, then that’s bothersome.
I’m really, really trying to come up with a lame attempt at humor, but I got nothin’.
I hate posts like this.
But this is even worse.
Constantly talking about men and women like they’re two homogeneous, opposing groups, usually sticking to the stereotypes about both groups (Women like shoes! Men like porn! Can’t live with em, can’t kill em! Ha ha ha).
Thinking that just because you can speak a language, you know linguistics. You most likely don’t know nearly as much as you think, so answering questions about linguistics like you’re an expert is really counter-productive. Label your guesses as such. I’m sure this can be said about many topics, but I *do *know linguistics, so this particularly bothers me. Also, this board is swarming with prescriptivists. Ugh.
Okay, that’s it.
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The contempt for and hostility towards any faith-based belief system.
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I don’t know how else to phrase this but: smallness of humanity. “Yay, this guy I hate is dead! I’m sure he’s roasting in hell and I’m delighted!”
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Posers of the intellectual variety. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t try to post as if you do.
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Posers of the pseudo-physical variety, who threaten to kick other posters’ asses or otherwise “teach them a lesson” IRL. It’s the internet, dude. You sound like a dope.
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“I haven’t read the whole thread but [point made on page 2 and again on page 4].”
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Posts with no content, of the “oh, yeah?” variety, clearly posted just to respond for the sake of responding or to try to have the last word. If you don’t have anything new to say, then you don’t have anything to say.
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TMI posts. Your sexual habits, your period, your bowel movements, your rashes: Please don’t share.
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Thread titles that don’t let you know what the thread is about.
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Threadshitting. If people are talking about how much they love Starsky and Hutch and you think it’s the worst TV show ever made, please resist the urge to post and tell them so. They didn’t ask you and they don’t care.
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Scolding and/or santimonious junior modding. Unless you are in fact a mod, it is not your job to tell people what or how to post. If they break the rules, report the post. Otherwise, keep your opinion on how people post (as opposed to what they post) to your own damn self.
That’s a full ten, so I’ll stop.
Related to the “Am I the only one who…” threads.
The feeling that being European or not mass produced automatically makes it better. Most noticable in beer threads, and most recently in a thread about Hershey bars. I understand beer snobs, but arguing over a 50 cent chocolate bar? That was just sad.
I hate that the edit function makes me think the things I write in e-mail are just a draft and I can edit them after they’ve gone out. :smack:
Sorry. I can’t resist a lame pun now and then. I will try to reconsider. Reminds me of a co-worker who would always say “Sorry, I couldn’t resist” after a snarky comment and I always thought, “Yes, you could; you just chose not to.” **gigi ** heal thyself.
The endless threads about what people don’t like about something.
Militant atheists.
Militant just about anything-ists.
People who complain about TMI threads. Some of us are fascinated by the Human Condition. As has oft been repeated: If you don’t like them, don’t read them.
People who think that their lack of even a rudimentary sense of humor should regulate the postings of everybody else on the Web.
People who care about what other people’s posting habits are so much that they get their panties in a bunch over it.
IMO, you don’t have to. I agree that lame humor is . . . well, lame, but “lame” is in the eye of the beholder. I love the flashes of humor that come up unexpectedly on the Dope; in fact, it’s one of my very favorite things about this place. I’d hate to see people try to stop being irreverent and funny (or punny) because someone won’t like it. There are what? 11,000? users here. No matter what humorous thing you say, someone will think it’s not funny.
“When the lame are healed, only outlaws will have…”
dammit.
And the “Why isn’t there a thread on…” threads, particularly when they try to use that absence as evidence of the board’s bias or prejudice. You want to know where that thread is? You just started it. Spare us the accusations and just debate the topic, already.