# Um, **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571 "2000-05-04T16:37:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ultress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7c8e57/32.png) [@ultress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultress)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/42 "2000-05-28T19:52:54Z")
For one, people who have nothing better to offer a topic than to bitch and moan about it. Stay away from topics that you don’t like. Two, you get bitched at when you try to help someone new on the board, and you get bitched at when you don’t. A losing game. A message board is what you make it. ---
**Author:** ![Brunetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Brunetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brunetter)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/43 "2000-05-28T20:17:35Z")
Revtim, don’t forget “the castle ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH” from Monty Python’s Holy Grail. I realize that posting here as a newbie is only going to get me into trouble, but I am hoping that someone will pounce on the chance to define “troll” for me. I assumed that it was a poster who had simply fallen out of favor due to being obnoxious/stupid/etc, but looking at Mister Armageddon’s post it seems to have a deeper meaning. Help a newbie out and 'splain? ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/44 "2000-05-28T20:58:40Z")
Damn and I was going to bring extra chairs for others. Did anyone bring any munchies? Cristi usually brings the Cheezy-poofs, but she’s in the process of moving right now. I so far have no complaints about quirks, but then again I am pretty easy going. Brunetter, that is one of my favorite movies! ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/45 "2000-05-28T21:05:24Z")
Um I hate responding to threads where the OP poster has been banned. Along with 4 others in the thread. I see the Mods are on the ball today. Way to go Mods! High Five and various other forms of encouragement! That is what I LIKE about this message board. Osip ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/46 "2000-05-28T21:20:31Z")
[Absurd] Thus thrwead is soooo stupifd! And mnone of you have any right to qestion my abilty to rendr suc a jujment becase I was in the miltrary for 20 yearrs, and stoopd is a marital art! [/Absurd] 😉 It’s no-one’s fault, but sometimes it bugs me when I make what I think is a meaningful/relevant/deep-and-thoughtful reply, and either some troll comes along and says something really stupid about it or (lacking a troll) my genius goes unrecognized and everyone keeps going like I never posted. Another thing I hate is when I’ve been absent during a troll-war (or some other juicy, scandalous event) has ended (and been cleaned up after) and _I missed everything!_ It’s so much less satisfying having to winkle the details out of others second-hand than it is to see the fireworks first hand. (I don’t feed trolls, but I don’t mind watching them starve to death, either.) Then again, I like the fact that this message board allows me to preview my messages and (usually) cach mistakes. (I said _usually!_) –Baloo ---
**Author:** ![Oat\_Willie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/85e7bf/32.png) [@Oat\_Willie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oat_Willie)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/47 "2000-05-28T21:57:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* I am hoping that someone will pounce on the chance to define “troll” for me. \*\* This and other local terms are defined (with varying precision) in the thread: **[Molosters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=24126)** ---
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/48 "2000-05-28T22:56:29Z")
I’m not fond of posts like Osip’s above: [QUOTE] **Um I hate responding to threads where the OP poster has been banned. Along with 4 others in the thread. I see the Mods are on the ball today. Way to go Mods! High Five and various other forms of encouragement! That is what I LIKE about this message board.Osip**/QUOTE] 1. Starting with um makes you look stupid (previously noted) 2. It’s disingenuous when people say they don’t want to respond and then do. 3. Banned status doesn’t affect any of the arguments above. 4. Encouraging the mods is not frowned on (I’ve done it, as others above, such as coosa) However, you should check the details before you ascribe their motives as relating to your concerns. Your concerns may just be starting if you attack four strangers at once without knowing where they are now. They could all be waiting in the wings to laugh when it’s your turn to trip. (In this case, tshirtz was a second name of mine, and was banned for the 1-name rule. It was actually tshirts that got into trouble, yet kindly they permitted me to use it as the surviving name. FlatULance was here before as Flat U. Lance, and was probably here under another name earlier. So, it’s a reasonable guess he’s with us yet (perhaps with the name Osip, for all we know). Farlley was likewise here in two incarnations (one was Farley). chiungtung doesn’t look banned, but other threads said he was, and I now see the name chiung-tung when I just searched. So here, your supposition was backward. Etc. for the others.) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/49 "2000-05-29T00:04:40Z")
Oh, this one is easy, it’s that so very many posts don’t seem to have any meaning at all. Some of the questions, although not stupid, I just can’t figure out why anyone would want to know the answer… And then those who don’t search first. Plus, those who think they know more than you do, which is almost everyone. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/50 "2000-05-29T00:30:55Z")
Well, even _I_ know the answer to that one (because sometimes I do it myself). Sometimes ome posts a question, even a seemingly unimportant one, not because you are interested in “The Answer”, but because you are interested in _all the answers_. That is to say, f’rinstance, when Opalcat or UncleBeer have something to say about a matter, you get so much more than “X because Y”. 🙂 (I do wish images were on. I prefer my [8]own\* smileys.) ---
**Author:** ![Brunetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Brunetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brunetter)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/51 "2000-05-29T01:15:19Z")
\ Baloo, I enjoyed that quote so much that I stole it for my new sig. Thanks for summing up the heart of the SDMB. \ [http://www.ellisclan.com](http://www.ellisclan.com) ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/52 "2000-05-29T14:54:19Z")
I do occasionally use the “Um…” starter, but only in response to something blatantly moronic. ex. “How do you know that the word green starts with a “g”? what if you have been taught that the letter “h” is actually “g”? how would anyone know???” my response: “Um…ok, sparky…now run along.” Note: I would never use “um” when seriously responding to a post. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/53 "2000-05-30T12:00:50Z")
Um, don’t it jes’ irk ya’ when someone posts a topic that belongs in either ATMB or The Pit. Or does it irk you when someone comes along and tells ya’ this belongs in The Pit or ATMB and uses really bad sentence structure and alot of apostrophes ? ---
**Author:** ![\_SILENT-BOB\_NOT\_REALLY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/3ec8ea/32.png) [@\_SILENT-BOB\_NOT\_REALLY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_SILENT-BOB_NOT_REALLY)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571/54 "2000-06-29T01:20:58Z")
:wally [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um/18571.md?page=2)