# Your SDMB Habits and Pet Peeves **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 20, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529 "2003-08-20T21:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/21 "2003-08-21T15:23:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > You need to download [Ghostzilla](http://www.ghostzilla.com/) then. “Hiding level six” eradicates spoiler boxes, (it also hides large graphics like the Straight Dope logo, and makes all text grey). The browser also appears within whichever application you’re meant to be using, and disappears with a shake of the mouse. It’s a godsend for dubious SDMBing… As a corporate IT type, I must say that a program like that should not be allowed to exist. The effect on corporate productivity will be enormous and negative. Only $9.95 for a version that runs from CD and leaves no files on your hard drive? Most excellent! I’m usually a Pit - then MPSIMS - then ATMB - then Cafe kind of guy. I’ll visit all the other forums if I have extra time to kill. One habit I have that I wonder if others do is that I always look at the list of last posters on the main SDMB page. Just to see how many of them are recognizable. I guess it gives me a level of comfort to do that when first hitting the boards - sort of a “look, familliar names! I’m home!” kind of thing. Oh, and on preview - I hate being beaten to a point on preview. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/22 "2003-08-21T17:09:10Z")
I really hate scrolling down a post and suddenly, there in the middle of the screen, is a huge “Really bad word” in monster font size and screaming color. Folks, many of us surreptitiously surf the SDMB at work, and when a red 4" **WARNING! HERE COMES AN EXAMPLE!** “f\*cko off!” appears on your screen unexpectedly, there’s a real good chance that someone will see it. It’s be nice if people would give some kind of spoiler warning about these tantrums before they show up! I was about to start a Pit thread about that. I may still do that. For the record, first I go to Cafe, then the Pit, then MPSIMS. And I am sick to death of “just spewed coffee/tea/soda/water” all over my “keyboard/monitor” posts. It’s really old now. And I love a flame out, pile on in the Pit! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/23 "2003-08-21T17:36:29Z")
I read Cafe Society, IMHO, MPSIMS, and BBQ Pit. GD scares me, so I’m very rarely in there. I hate it when people don’t punctuate or capitalize. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/24 "2003-08-21T17:46:07Z")
To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to protest that the word \*\*Hampster Mastubation \*\* is not used nearly enough on this board. I would also like to see more of **Felching Weasel** \*\* Horney Goat\*\* and \*\*Throwing Shit like a pissed off Silverback \*\*. They are all excellent for visuals and make me titter like a little girl. Sincerely, Efraim Q. Dunderbrampton Croydon ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/25 "2003-08-21T19:03:10Z")
Habits: I never - well, rarely - read the Pit or Great Debates. If I do read a thread in one of those forums, it’s most likely because it’s been moved there after I got interested in it, or I followed a link that was relevant to a post I was reading elsewhere. I always start with Comments on (Cecil | Staff), then General Questions, but I rarely come up with anything to post there. I then go onto Café Society, IMHO, and MPSIMS, where I am most likely to post. I don’t post if someone else has already said what I want to say. Yes, I know this isn’t common for the board, and I’ll never get a high post count that way, but that’s just how I feel. (It also contributes to the posting habit I mention in the preceding paragraph.) If I’m interested in a thread, but don’t have something constructive to add, I’ll try to add something funny instead. (It’s left as an exercise to the reader whether I succeed.) If I’ve been posting lately, I’ll do a vanity search on my username to remind myself what threads I was posting in, so I can check for responses. I never do this in the text, so I’ll never know if someone was talking about me in a thread I wasn’t posting in. Or care, either. Peeves: If someone makes a joke in the thread, it’s OK if it’s ignored or followed up with a humorous response, but one of my peeves is when someone takes an obvious joke and treats it as if it were serious. (I don’t get too worked up over it, though, because I know full well that humor is an individual thing, not always obvious to everyone.) When someone posts wanting sympathy for a problem, it really annoys me to see someone else being mean to the poster in that thread. That just seems wrong. I don’t care to read posts by people who use leetspeak or even just no punctuation or capitalization. (ee cummings and I, sad to say, would NOT have gotten along.) (Another habit of mine, and possibly someone else’s peeve: overuse of parentheses.) ---
**Author:** ![Aguecheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/26 "2003-08-21T19:11:35Z")
Pit first - I love reading meltdowns and flameouts. As well, there’s often some very funny diatribes about the most mundane things. Always good for a larf. **Sauron** ’s rants amuse me no end. Then MPSIMS, IMHO, Cafe Society and GQ. I’ll hit Great Debates maybe about once a week. Won’t post there, just read. Often open different forums in different windows and read from each one. Particularly at home. Always alway always read locked threads. If there’s a thread that I haven’t opened 'cause it didn’t appeal to me, I’ll open it when it gets to about 3 pages or so to see if I was too quick in judging the book by the cover. Peeves: - The misuse of apostrophes and the whole “their,” “there,” they’re" (among others) issue. Same with the proliferation of “loose,” “viola,” “hampster,” and others. - As mentioned above, quoting a gargantuan post to ask a simple question. - Quoting posts without attribution to the author. - Another post to correct a mild typo. - Smiley abuse. One or two’s okay. One at the end of every sentence or a bunch packed in at once gets tiresome. - Exclamation abuse. We realize you’re excited. However, 23 exclamation points merely looks like you leaned on the keyboard far too long. ---
**Author:** ![Stage\_Manager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stage_manager/32/7267_2.png) [@Stage\_Manager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stage_Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/27 "2003-08-21T19:48:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NE Texan \* > \*\*If I’ve been posting lately, I’ll do a vanity search on my username to remind myself what threads I was posting in, so I can check for responses. I never do this in the text, so I’ll never know if someone was talking about me in a thread I wasn’t posting in. Or care, either. > \*\* It is my understanding that the definition of “vanity post” is when one does a search on one’s username _within the text of posts_ in order to ascertain whether one has been mentioned by another user. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee59a6/32.png) [@CrazyMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/28 "2003-08-21T19:59:03Z")
When I look through a forum, I right-click on any thread I find interesting and select “Open in New Window”. Hopefully By the time I get to the bottom of the forum and have selected a bunch of threads, the first thread has finished loading. It annoys me when there are links to other threads, without any kind of description of what you’re linking to or why. I’ll also chime in against huge quotes when only a small portion is needed, and replies to correct a small, obvious typo. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/29 "2003-08-21T20:00:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mikie \* > \*\*It is my understanding that the definition of “vanity post” is when one does a search on one’s username _within the text of posts_ in order to ascertain whether one has been mentioned by another user. > > YMMV. \*\* Nope, a vanity search is done via the board’s search engine. I believe they’ve been discouraged to free up the server a bit. ---
**Author:** ![freetobeme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@freetobeme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freetobeme)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/30 "2003-08-21T20:07:50Z")
I’m new and don’t as yet have habbits and only a couple of pet peeves and since I’m still new and stuff I don’t feel I should vent said peeves just yet. My one exception will be that this board is toooooooooo daaaaaaamn slooooooooow You’d think that a message board with the user base that this one has might get some bandwidth. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason why it hasn’t happened and one that’s fully documented somewhere in here. I honestly haven’t bothered to look. Can anyone point a brother to the answer? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/31 "2003-08-21T20:19:26Z")
**freetobeme** , the board has gotten extremely slow in the last week or so. Usually it’s quite a bit faster (but still a notch slower than boards that have some sort of income - The Chicago Reader doesn’t need the SDMB for anything, and supports us out of the goodness of Cecil’s heart). ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/32 "2003-08-21T20:21:13Z")
I’ve got a couple peeves. First, it annoys me that ever since changing to the new version of vB the links in the forums are no longer a different color once you’ve visited them. There was a time on the old software where I’d be able to visit a thead, not post to it, and when ever it popped up on the first page again I’d remember having followed it. Secondly, I hate when people post links without using the url tag. To a lesser extent I hate when people link to a thread using a simple nondescript word like "“look here” without giving a prior description. The board is slow enough as it is, we don’t need people opening new threads just to see what the hell a poster is talking about. Link the thread title please. I’m sure there’s more, but this’ll do for now. ---
**Author:** ![Stage\_Manager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stage_manager/32/7267_2.png) [@Stage\_Manager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stage_Manager)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/33 "2003-08-21T20:29:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > \*\*Nope, a vanity search is done via the board’s search engine. I believe they’ve been discouraged to free up the server a bit. \*\* Yknow, **Munch** , I honestly can’t tell if you’re mocking me or if you are just confused by what I posted. I truly have more to say, but I am going to wait a while, cool down, search your posts for other examples, and then Pit you. Have a nice day! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/34 "2003-08-21T20:33:02Z")
Ooh, thought of another one. I hate it when people make reference to something they know is vague, hoping that someone will ask them about it so they can respond and look smart. I’m always eternally appreciative when someone does the opposite (explain the term/phrase/situation in a parenthetical directly after). **Bambi Hassenpfeffer** did a great job of this in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=206186) regarding the Star Trek “Giant Reset Button”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_Two\_Brains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_Two\_Brains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_Two_Brains)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/35 "2003-08-21T20:50:07Z")
I hate to see long empty posts, where people add 30 empty lines so their precious post will be the only thing on your screen and you can’t read ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/36 "2003-08-21T20:50:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mikie \* > \*\*Yknow, **Munch** , I honestly can’t tell if you’re mocking me or if you are just confused by what I posted. > > I truly have more to say, but I am going to wait a while, cool down, search your posts for other examples, and then Pit you. > Have a nice day! :dubious: \*\* No, it looks like I just misinterpretted what you said. I thought you meant doing a search within a particular thread via Ctrl+F. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/37 "2003-08-21T21:07:13Z")
I stand with Lynn Bodoni in my one and only pet peeve. I really don’t care for the fake Pit thread. If I see **Scylla you goat felching moron** I expect to see a case being made for why Scylla is a moron. Instead all too often I get a semi-humorous roast for my hamster exercising efforts. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/38 "2003-08-21T21:45:41Z")
I hate it when people don’t finish th sdrawkcab epyt elpoep nehw dnA ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/39 "2003-08-22T03:50:21Z")
Habits: First to Cafe Society, then IMHO, MPSIMS, and then the Pit. Never go to GQ, Great Debates, or Comments on Staff Reports. Usually I’ll keep the list of threads open and open threads in a new window. I’ll always read threads about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and actually nearly all the posts in Cafe Society. I’ll always read closed posts to see why they were closed and to see if anyone has been banned, or when someone mentions an old poster who was banned, Il usually look them up. Peeves: I hate the way people in the Pit give people crap over how their posts were wrote instead of what they were actually writing about. I hate the way some people on the boards will completely dismiess a newbie or someone with a post count lower then a thousand . Also **Omniscient** My links do change colour, before I read them there Navy and after they are grey, maybe its something to do with your settings? ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529/40 "2003-08-22T05:03:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SkyBum \* > \*\ ***E. Thorp** , do you have cookies disabled by any chance? I used to have the same problem until I enabled cookies for this site. \*\* I tried that but no change. No, strike that, actually it’s worse now: I logged in, came to this page, clicked “quote” to select **SkyBum** ’s message above, and was required to log in a second time. For the moment I’m willing to leave this as a peeve, no big deal. The hamsters are on the verge of driving me away in any case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-sdmb-habits-and-pet-peeves/196529.md?page=3)