What are your Forum Pet-Peeves?

I was simply wondering, if, and what pet-peeves duders have about forums in general.

Personally I've never had any forum pet-peeves in the past, but I've recently started to develop some.

My first new pet-peeve being; when you receive a reply to something you've posted, and it’s obvious the person read you post selectively. Do you reply? Or do you simply end the discussion there? It seems to be happening more often to me lately, and well I'm starting to think I just shouldn't continue the discussion with such people.

Secondly I seem to be developing distaste for people who resort to personal attacks. I've been on forums for years, so I've developed quite a thick skin, but I've simply lost interest in "discussing" with people who can't address an opinion or idea without personal attacks. It’s not that I’m offended, I couldn't care less in such terms, I simply find it boring having to have the same discussion over, and over again. Admittedly I can have heated opinions like anyone else, but I never resort to personal attacks.

Oh I think I lied at the start, I do have a long-lasting forum pet-peeve. Post formatting, for the love of god stop with the walls of text.

So what about you? What drives you nuts? Posts like this? Nothing at all? Repeated Question Marks?????

Personal attacks, I agree.
 
That, and "Am I the only one...?" threads.

Passive aggressive rants.

I can't stand it when people post in a thread just to say that the thread has no merit, diluting the discussion for people who believe otherwise, and also elongating the life of the thread, against their very own sentiments...

@SeriouslyNow: God you try so hard.

People who start a thread with "The title says it all" or similar. It just irks me.

@SeriouslyNow: God you try so hard.

"Am I the only one...?" threads.

Something that bothers me a lot is when a commenter will insult another commenter or insult anyone or anything in general and then you get a stream of people also insulting that person or thing. It isn't inherently wrong for people to be turned off by something, but the herd mentality where one person's insult opens the door for more people to feel comfortable expressing insults is just sad to see. People often start trying to top one another in insults, as well, going from perhaps a simple "This lady's an idiot" to "Fuck that bitch, I wouldn't even rape her ass". The escalation of the worst part of people in a forum environment bothers me, and it's relatively common.

It's also not really just limited to forums, as it's common in every day life, but it is still bothersome when seen online. There's another layer to it, as well, when you see people you usually like or agree with acting like that. Even a lot of generally nice, interesting people can have no issue with jumping on a bandwagon of hateful language, particularly when they feel they have the moral high ground to do so. That's a big pet-peeve of mine when it comes to forum discussions.

@TruthTellah: I never really thought about it that way, its a really good point. Dang,another thing to add to the list.

Something that bothers me a lot is when a commenter will insult another commenter or insult anyone or anything in general and then you get a stream of people also insulting that person or thing. It isn't inherently wrong for people to be turned off by something, but the herd mentality where one person's insult opens the door for more people to feel comfortable expressing insults is just sad to see. People often start trying to top one another in insults, as well, going from perhaps a simple "This lady's an idiot" to "Fuck that bitch, I wouldn't even rape her ass". The escalation of the worst part of people in a forum environment bothers me, and it's relatively common.

It's also not really just limited to forums, as it's common in every day life, but it is still bothersome when seen online. There's another layer to it, as well, when you see people you usually like or agree with acting like that. Even a lot of generally nice, interesting people can have no issue with jumping on a bandwagon of hateful language, particularly when they feel they have the moral high ground to do so. That's a big pet-peeve of mine when it comes to forum discussions.

@SeriouslyNow: Indeed. I posted my distaste in that thread, as well; though, I did try to at least address his question. Unfortunately, to suggest that people not treat others like trash is often simply met with responses like "dude, are you against honesty? fuck anyone who isn't me". When the issue wasn't "I don't want to hurt this woman's feelings when I say I'm not interested" but instead "I don't want someone to think I'm horrible and give me a hard time", there's a real issue there. And once you get one insulting sentiment in there, people just pile on like they're in an echo chamber.

"Am I the only one?" threads, for some reason. Shouldnt really bother me but it does :p

@SeriouslyNow: Indeed. I posted my distaste in that thread, as well; though, I did try to at least address his question. Unfortunately, to suggest that people not treat others like trash is often simply met with responses like "dude, are you against honesty? fuck anyone who isn't me". When the issue wasn't "I don't want to hurt this woman's feelings" but instead "I don't want someone to think I'm horrible and give me a hard time", there's a real issue there. And once you get one insulting sentiment in there, people just pile on like they're in an echo chamber.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@TruthTellah said:

@SeriouslyNow: Indeed. I posted my distaste in that thread, as well; though, I did try to at least address his question. Unfortunately, to suggest that people not treat others like trash is often simply met with responses like "dude, are you against honesty? fuck anyone who isn't me". When the issue wasn't "I don't want to hurt this woman's feelings" but instead "I don't want someone to think I'm horrible and give me a hard time", there's a real issue there. And once you get one insulting sentiment in there, people just pile on like they're in an echo chamber.

Human beings are generally great individually but can be often awful in groups. We haven't really evolved all that far.

To be honest, I think there's a decent bit of evidence to suggest that human beings as a larger society have improved in some capacity, but then, general improvement doesn't change individual issues. People are still people, and they'll still have similar effects on others, particularly in either bringing out the worst or the best in those around them. Kindness often breeds more kindness, but being an asshole also tends to bring out more of the asshole in those around you. So, there can be a good side to this, but we unfortunately see more of that negative side on online forums, seemingly due to the relative lack of weight or responsibility in what is said. People often mistake honesty with the misguided concept of everything you say, feel, or believe is right or appropriate; so, they're surprised when people call them out on their "honest" statements. Being open about something doesn't automatically mean that something is okay or not able to be criticized.

@SeriouslyNow: Yeah, man, don't keep me down. You sound like yur my Ma or one of those new-age feminazis or something. jeez. ;)

The belief that "it's just my opinion" somehow insulates you from criticism. Your opinion is NOT sacrosanct. Deal with it being criticised or stop fucking talking.

Threads that are titled "Am I the only one.." or similar other vague teases. Tell me what the post is about and I'll read it if I'm interested, if not, I don't care.

Personal attacks are pretty petty too, I've had a few spill over into my PM box, but I just outright delete them. Find something better to do with your time.

Oh, and what's with all the advice/girl problem threads lately? They just plain don't belong here.

When people discuss about an issue without having the proper information to back it up. So yeah, it's not easy for me.

Off the top of my head: 1) Not taking the time to eliminate typos from thread titles. Typos in a post are understandable but the title is so short that it only takes a few seconds to read it back to to yourself. It really shows the original poster doesn't really care about their own topic. 2) OP's who only respond to disagreement that's easily refutable while ignoring legitimate criticisms and facts. This definitely causes threads to stretch on much longer than they should. 3) Ad hominem 4) Making posts that are nothing but quotes of other's posts. It's lazy and adds nothing to discussion.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

"Am I the only one...?" threads.

A thousand times this. The "Critical Miss" comic sums up my feelings perfectly:

i h8 ppl ho typ lik dis cuz they cant fckin typ3 corectly haha lol ok bye

Anybody that disagrees with me. What's their problem?

• People who can't separate opinion from fact, or consider opinions to be about being "right" or "wrong".
• Personal attacks and insults are not great. I have insulted people myself, which I am not proud of. It still happens.
• Stupid post formatting: 1) Walls of text. 2) Formatting your post manually with new lines in a way that makes it look good on your own device but makes it incredibly difficult to read when using the mobile site. 3) Using center alignment on your entire post.
• Quoting me and then changing the content. I was expressing my dislike of drug users and someone changed key words in the quote to turn it into a homophobic post, as if my dislike of drug users and homophobia was comparable.
• Trying to disprove my argument by exaggerating it to the extreme, not considering how doing the same to their opposing argument would make it look equally silly.
• Joking about sensitive issues in a way that is entirely offensive and not funny at all.
• Ending your forum post with your name as if you were writing a letter.

Hard to say, a lot of stuff annoys me, but most of the time I just write out half a post then close the tab, not worth the argument.

Probably my biggest pet peeve is people who reply to posts but obviously don't read them completely, or people who reply sounding like they did not read the post, then claim they were being sarcastic.... Hate to break it to people, but text is not the best medium to convey sarcasm in.

The thing I hate is when someone quotes me or replies to me MONTHS after the original comment was made. It's usually something that I've completely forgotten about.

And things like when people use the word "then" when they mean "than," and other stupid little mistakes. I can't tell you how many times I've just stopped reading a post when someone says something like, "I liked this game more then that one." Even typing it as an example makes me feel dirty. It has a completely different meaning!

@MooseyMcMan said:

And things like when people use the word "then" when they mean "than," and other stupid little mistakes. I can't tell you how many times I've just stopped reading a post when someone says something like, "I liked this game more then that one." Even typing it as an example makes me feel dirty. It has a completely different meaning!

Poor grammar or spelling doesn't bother me that much, since I'm not a native English speaker myself. There's a large international audience browsing Giant Bomb, you know.

Disregarding a post because of a tiny mistake like that will make you miss out on a lot.

People who legitimately get angry at minor grammatical errors. If you can still very easily understand the person, it's not a big deal.

People who seem so interested in something they admit themselves that they are not interested in. Why do people feel so compelled to enter threads just to stir up crap on something they don't care about?

People who comment just to say they don't like the game or the game series. OK, you don't like it but does this honestly require a post stating your opinion about something you don't like? I mean do you go round the supermarket pointing out things you don't like and saying "Onions, I don't like them" and moving on.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

"Am I the only one...?" threads.

A thousand times this. The "Critical Miss" comic sums up my feelings perfectly:

People that repeatedly make posts that lack any kind of concision. And I mean ANY.

People talking about stuff they don't know about. Thats why I try to stay away from threads about politics and religion (unless its to comment on how much of a stupid name Mit is. Seriously, President Mit?)

People who comment just to say they don't like the game or the game series. OK, you don't like it but does this honestly require a post stating your opinion about something you don't like? I mean do you go round the supermarket pointing out things you don't like and saying "Onions, I don't like them" and moving on.

@ZeForgotten: +1, sir, +1.

Oh, and another pet-peeve: people who post something they've created/designed/whatever then fly off the handle when someone offers an opinion on it. A good example of this happened to me a few years ago where some dude posted some god-awful poem he had written. I posted some sensible feedback and he went completely bananas at me, demanding to know why I felt I had the write to comment at all on his poem and that he didn't post it for anyone to criticise. Asking him if he was aware that a public forum was, well, a public forum just caused him to go super-nova.

@Tim_the_Corsair: personally, when I use the 'it's just my opinion' line I'm saying it because it's just that, it's my perspective on something. I'm more admitting that there are other viewpoints to the issue, but this one happens to be mine. Although, I think it's easy to tell the difference.

As for pet peeves? Generally, spam is about the only thing that bothers me too much. If I find myself getting heated by a thread and/or the posters in the thread I'll not post to add fuel to the fiery infero. I think that falls under the original post in the personal attacks section.

When people just post on thread, just to post that your opinion is shit, and what you is shit. The most recent threads were the Toonami themed ones, I get that a lot people don't like anime or whatever but is it really necessary to spam the whole thread with "anime is for jerks" or "what is a Toonami". If you don't know about what is being talked about try to look it up, or just ask politely, I get it you are joking, but when it's 20 asking or saying the same thing it stops being funny. Also, I wish people here stop being so aggressive towards each others we all have different opinions, we don't have to attack each other.

My number one forum pet-peeve is when people quote someone and their only contribution is to add "This." Like this:

@CL60 said:

People who legitimately get angry at minor grammatical errors. If you can still very easily understand the person, it's not a big deal.

This.

@EarlessShrimp: On the "It's my opinion" thing. I get what you're saying, but it kinda bothers me when people say that it's their opinion still. We know it's your opinion. Anyone worth talking to understands that what you're saying is your opinion and they are just giving theirs. I don't think opinions need to be qualified by constantly reiterating that it is in fact an opinion. To me it feels like a phrase that's there to say "I have nothing meaningful to respond to you with but I would like to make your argument seem invalid".

As for forum specific pet peeves, I have 2 big ones.

1) People who say /thread after their own post. Most of the time it's not funny or clever or anything that could even be thread ending. People hardly ever even acknowledge those posts which just goes to how not great they are. Stop being a jackass.

2) Also, when people say "discuss". We're obviously gonna discuss, that's what the forums are here for. It's even worse when people post something random and stupid in the middle of the thread and punctuate it with "discuss". More often than not from my experience people totally ignore that post. Again, stop being a jackass.

Sorry to the people who said personal attacks if you take my points as personal attacks. I'm really just doing it to illustrate that it bugs me. And that if you fit into either one of those, I hate you.

@Beaudacious: What do you mean they selectively read your posts? For example I am just responding to that specific part of your post, so am I hitting that pet peeve? Or do you mean they kind of take what they want to hear from your post and ignore the rest?

People who are too moralistic, staff dick-riding, people who can't appreciate a good troll thread, posters who only make the safest jokes possible. Oh, and anyone who flipped a shit on Enigma for driving wasted. Enough of that shit already.

People who are too moralistic, staff dick-riding, people who can't appreciate a good troll thread, posters who only make the safest jokes possible. Oh, and anyone who flipped a shit on Enigma for driving wasted. Enough of that shit already.

People saying "Am I the only one..."

No you're not goddammit!

When people want to get into one of those point-by-point type debates with you. I used to be able/want to do that shit on the internet but man, I just don't wanna anymore. They can be fun to read, sometimes, though, like in silly religion argument threads or anything with weird moral issues.

Also, vague thread titles.

@CL60 said:

@Everyones_A_Critic

People who are too moralistic, staff dick-riding, people who can't appreciate a good troll thread, posters who only make the safest jokes possible. Oh, and anyone who flipped a shit on Enigma for driving wasted. Enough of that shit already.

What's wrong with flipping shit at somebody for driving wasted

Nothing I guess. It just got redundant in that particular case.

People who have a huge bitch list about the site that makes you wonder why the fuck they even visit (much less are registered) in the first place. They must enjoy wasting their time.

@NekuSakuraba said:

@Extreme_Popcorn

People who comment just to say they don't like the game or the game series. OK, you don't like it but does this honestly require a post stating your opinion about something you don't like? I mean do you go round the supermarket pointing out things you don't like and saying "Onions, I don't like them" and moving on.

What if the question is something like "what did you think of this part of the game?" i mean, if you didn't like onions and someone asked what you like most about the onions, can't you say you don't like them?

That's fine but I mean when it's a trailer of a game or some new game play.

It weirds me out when people change their forum avatar frequently. It's like I don't know who they are anymore. What the hell, guys?

People saying "this is the internet" as an excuse to ignore every rule of good behavior.