Forum Pet Peeves

[domesticactivist]

I hate when people apologize for writing too much. To really give a good answer, we need *information*! If I don't have time to read something long, I just won't read it. No one is forcing me! When I read what others have written, I get something out of it.

I agree with the others who have a problem with people asking questions then not coming back with answers to follow up questions or updates to really difficult situations.

Something that bothers me about this forum in particular are the board rules about not linking to blog posts. The same issues come up over and over and I sometimes *really* want to share the same information that I've shared before. I've written blog posts so that I don't have to rewrite up all that same stuff. It's very silly to have to type out to search the blog linked from my profile instead of just linking to it. Same deal with not being able to link to ahem, sites that sell things. It's obvious when someone is a spam poster who is just here to promote their blog or make money on their affiliate links. It seems petty and greedy to not allow regular members of the community to link to their own blog posts that are directly relevant to the topic at hand.

I also hate when people get all bent out of shape about people's typos, spelling, or grammar mistakes. I get not wanting to read big blocks of text-speak or all caps. However, jumping on people for using the wrong "there," is off topic and mean.

Last one... I think someone said it already... is when people bury a completely new and unrelated question in the middle of someone's thread. It confuses the whole thing and makes them less likely to get good answers.

[sariesue]

  On 11/26/2011 at 6:35 PM, domesticactivist said:

I also hate when people get all bent out of shape about people's typos, spelling, or grammar mistakes. I get not wanting to read big blocks of text-speak or all caps. However, jumping on people for using the wrong "there," is off topic and mean.

Multiple spelling mistakes bother me because all of the main web browsers that I know of correct spelling mistakes when posting on the internet. It is extreme laziness to not look for the red lines and have the word corrected. For me why should I spend my precious time to respond to a post that has a million spelling errors because the OP was too lazy to proofread? Plus having many spelling errors in one post makes it very hard for me to read.

This reminds me of another pet peeve, when people use IM lingo as the main format of their posts. I have no problem with shortening frequently used forum words like gluten free-gluten-free, medications-meds, doctors-drs...... But posts should not read like "does ne1 kno about the blood tests? I cud rlly use the help... GTG BAI!" Since there is no character limit to posts and it's not meant to be instant communication why can't people take the time to write properly?

[love2travel]

  On 11/22/2011 at 1:52 AM, Skylark said:

I'm here to peeve! Celiac's disease or celiacs disease. AUUUUGHH! IT'S NOT PLURAL AND IT'S NOT POSSESSIVE!

Thank you. I feel much better.

I am RELIEVED that you mentioned this as I was going to do the very same thing. I feel better, too.

[domesticactivist]

  On 11/27/2011 at 3:43 PM, sariesue said:

Multiple spelling mistakes bother me because all of the main web browsers that I know of correct spelling mistakes when posting on the internet. It is extreme laziness to not look for the red lines and have the word corrected. For me why should I spend my precious time to respond to a post that has a million spelling errors because the OP was too lazy to proofread? Plus having many spelling errors in one post makes it very hard for me to read.

This reminds me of another pet peeve, when people use IM lingo as the main format of their posts. I have no problem with shortening frequently used forum words like gluten free-gluten-free, medications-meds, doctors-drs...... But posts should not read like "does ne1 kno about the blood tests? I cud rlly use the help... GTG BAI!" Since there is no character limit to posts and it's not meant to be instant communication why can't people take the time to write properly?

I agree with the IM lingo thing but must say I post from my phone all the time and autocorrect is evil!

[Roda]

Hey, can someone tell me how they really feel?

[Booghead]

Love this forum. I also hate it when someone posts a frantic post about how they are feeling so very terrible and going to the hospital the next day. Then the next day we check for a update. Then the next week. And we never here from them.

So then we read their profiles and their IP address. We find where they live.

THEN we check the obituaries in that city, state, country.

Only to find out that they were just fine, it was a mild allergic reaction to peanuts. The don't have celiacs. They were just fine.

<i'm so funny and clever>

So all in all my pet peeve is when people don't update us.

[Lisa]

  On 12/7/2011 at 12:36 AM, Booghead said:

<i'm so funny and clever>

Clever, indeed! And, I too agree.

But, I also respect the fact that people use user names to protect their identity. It's nice to respect their privacy, too.

[ravenwoodglass]

  On 12/7/2011 at 12:36 AM, Booghead said:

So then we read their profiles and their IP address. We find where they live.

This has me a bit concerned. I do value my privacy. If I want folks to know where I live I will tell them. The idea that someone can find where I live is a bit worrisome.

I guess that is now my biggest pet peeve and will be something I am going to have to take into serious consideration.

[psawyer]

  On 12/7/2011 at 11:56 AM, ravenwoodglass said:

This has me a bit concerned. I do value my privacy. If I want folks to know where I live I will tell them. The idea that someone can find where I live is a bit worrisome.

I guess that is now my biggest pet peeve and will be something I am going to have to take into serious consideration.

Forum members can not see IP addresses, nor can they see the private information in member profiles. Moderators can see the IP address from which a post came.

[Jestgar]

Just want to clarify that the IP address is not your address. It's the location of the company that provides your internet. When I look up my IP address I get this:

Continent: North America (NA)

Country: United States (US)

State: Washington

City: Everett

Postal Code: 98201

ISP: Comcast Cable

Organization: Comcast Cable

Time zone: America/Los_Angeles

Which isn't where I live. Not even the right county...

[Booghead]

WOAH WOAH WOAH! Guys I was just kidding. It was a joke. Sorry to get you all riled up! Unless you have very high tech stuffies then you cant find other peoples IP addresses. And on this protected forum you might not be able to do it at all. It was a very illogical story, meant to exageratte how we feel when people don't keep us updated.

[Booghead]

  On 12/7/2011 at 11:56 AM, ravenwoodglass said:

This has me a bit concerned. I do value my privacy. If I want folks to know where I live I will tell them. The idea that someone can find where I live is a bit worrisome.

I guess that is now my biggest pet peeve and will be something I am going to have to take into serious consideration.

It can't happen. Don't worry about it. I was just kidding. I suppose I should have considered not everyone knows about tech stuff. My dad is a computer "genius" so I know more then most I suppose.

[Lisa]

  On 12/8/2011 at 10:45 PM, Booghead said:

WOAH WOAH WOAH! Guys I was just kidding. It was a joke. Sorry to get you all riled up! Unless you have very high tech stuffies then you cant find other peoples IP addresses. And on this protected forum you might not be able to do it at all. It was a very illogical story, meant to exageratte how we feel when people don't keep us updated.

Cool!

[ravenwoodglass]

  On 12/8/2011 at 10:46 PM, Booghead said:

It can't happen. Don't worry about it. I was just kidding. I suppose I should have considered not everyone knows about tech stuff. My dad is a computer "genius" so I know more then most I suppose.

No harm done.

Maybe use a 'smily face' or the 'LOL' one after a kidding remark like that so us 'tech challenged' that aren't as tech savvy know your kidding.

[anabananakins]

It's a valid point though, about the worrying. And my peeve! On another forum I belong to we had a person post all the time, and we were all good friends and then one day she vanished. She completely dropped off the face of the earth (she'd posted elsewhere in the fandom, so it wasn't just she'd vanished from us). It was really weird and we all wondered "did she just get bored of it all" (if so, say so!), "did something happen"? We were worried and we missed her but time passed (I've known them all for about 5 years now, in real life as well as keeping in regular contact via our online group) and we'd mention her now and again, pretty much convinced she was dead. Then one day, she turned up! There was activity on her blog, which triggered emails. And we were all "hi!" and she ignored us. Then she turned up elsewhere asking insane, very troll-like questions. It was so weird. Over a period of a few weeks she came back into our lives only to crash and burn in spectacular fashion after some utterly insane posting around the place. She ended up deleting all her accounts, so I think she's gone once and for all and we never got to see our 'friend' again, just the psycho she ended up being. But hey, we got resolution at least. She wasn't dead, she was just nuts

So it doesn't really apply here, since the nature of this forum is quite different to the small close-knit group, but people do worry when someone they see all the time, vanishes!

[kareng]

I hate the public forums that make you use your real full name and email address. I signed up for one even tho I was a bit uncomfortable. 2 days later, I got an email from someone complaining about everyone on the forum. I shut that account down.

[jerseyangel]

I was a member of a forum once that kept trying to solicit money to keep the board running. This was a large site with a lot of advertising too.

[Lisa]

You're right Anabanana...we learn to share with people and care with people. It can worry us or concern us about the people we share information about, and offer help...and we just don't hear back.

I'm learning that's the way of the internet. We like to think that people have manners, but I guess, sometimes they just don't.

[mushroom]

  On 12/9/2011 at 12:59 AM, jerseyangel said:

I was a member of a forum once that kept trying to solicit money to keep the board running. This was a large site with a lot of advertising too.

I belong to a forum where there is no advertising, and we do ocasionally contribute to keep it running although we are not very active at the moment. When the America's Cup is on we go nutz I have met lots of follks from the phorum (at least half a dozen) and it has been fun over the years. I always recognized them even though I hadn't seen pictures, except for one.

[UKGail]

Picking up on a previous point about posters eliciting advice and then disappearing without coming back with updated information, I'm afraid I have been guilty of that. Maybe I am just paranoid but I had a rather uncomfortable experience and have been upset about it. Having had negative blood tests, and having more or less ruled out any other major "nasties", I showed my doctor a reported case history identical to my unusual atypical presentation of celiac/gluten intolerance. As I also have many of the other more typical sypmtoms discussed here on the forum, plus a strong family history of diagnosed celiac disease, I thought this was good enough to elicit a referral for an endoscopy. Instead the Doc said "ok, that's good enough for me - seronegative celiac", jotted it down in my file and instructed me to go on a strict gluten-free diet. I was a bit surprised but pleased, thought this was an agreed diagnosis, and started on the diet with unmistakeably positive results. On reading someone's post about achieving a diagnosis with negative bloods, I responded explaining my experience. The poster asked for my docs name, which foolishly I gave, if only to discourage the poster because I am in the UK.

Anyway at my follow up visit a few weeks later, when I was discussing my response to the gluten-free diet, the doc was surprisingly neutral, and seemed quite keen to say that he was not giving me a diagnosis, and that I had merely agreed to trial a gluten-free diet. I was (and am) upset at this because I have now missed my opportunity to obtain a formal diagnosis as I do not wish to do a lengthy gluten challenge and make myself sick again (I was hardly functioning either at home or at work because of the pain, sickness and brain fog etc). It was also so strange that his approach was so markedly different, that it made me wonder if my post was picked up by a reputation monitoring program. So now, I feel stupid, embarrassed at my naivity in all senses, still quite angry, and not able to continue posting. I have still been reading the board though, and find it a great help, particularly on the not-so-good days. So thank you all!

[bartfull]

I think ALL of us who post on the internet, no matter where we post, need to be a bit more careful. I was just on one of my guitar forums a few minutes ago and they were talking about a very rare guitar. Some guy actually posted a list of all the people he knew who had one. Now all of these people have to get burgler alarms because it is so easy to find people, once again, using the internet. If someone wants to steal one of these babies, it will be so easy now.

I think sometimes we forget that it is not just our group we are talking to. Anyone who owns a computer can read anything we post. I try to keep that in mind at all times, but I am sure I have had some "mishaps" too. I try to think of it as a "party line". Anyone here old enough to remember those?

[mushroom]

  On 12/15/2011 at 1:46 AM, bartfull said:

I think sometimes we forget that it is not just our group we are talking to. Anyone who owns a computer can read anything we post. I try to keep that in mind at all times, but I am sure I have had some "mishaps" too. I try to think of it as a "party line". Anyone here old enough to remember those?

Ah yes. Our little country school - board members would all pick up the phone at 7:00 p.m. and hold the board meeting.

You have highlighted a danger I hadn't thought of - not what we post ourselves but what other people post about us

[pondy]

How about when someone highjacks your post & really just starts a new thread right in the middle?

[Lisa]

  On 12/20/2011 at 1:51 AM, pondy said:

How about when someone highjacks your post & really just starts a new thread right in the middle?

Oh yes, not very polite.

[mushroom]

I give a little leeway here, because I think I did the same thing when I joined Didn't know the forum etiquette to start your own darned thread and not take over someone else's. It seems (when you're really new) very presumptuous and uppity to start a whole thread devoted just to you The only forums I had been on before were more like chatrooms....