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Forum posting habits that annoy the hell out of you.

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Devolution said:
Makes it easier to write corrections, that's why teachers prefer it. Published ones though, probably different.
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Oh, dude, I don't. I mean, double line spacing, sure. An extra space after a period doesn't add anything unless I feel like giving a kid a very tiny smiley face, I guess.

Cyan said:
Whoa, your avatar!
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Yeah, man.

This seems like a good place to ask, and forgive my wild ignorance, but when someone adds G, A, or F? to a title, what the hell's that mean?
 
hey_monkey said:
Oh, dude, I don't. I mean, double line spacing, sure. An extra space after a period doesn't add anything unless I feel like giving a kid a very tiny smiley face, I guess.



Yeah, man.

This seems like a good place to ask, and forgive my wild ignorance, but when someone adds G, A, or F? to a title, what the hell's that mean?
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Oh I thought we were talking about spacing not after periods. Yeah that's something I don't understand.
 
Lots of folks on GAF like to reply to posts with shit like: "What the fuck? In 2013, really?"

Protip: Pretending that an argument is so outrageous you don't know how to reply to it does nothing to refute the argument. Refute it with your own opinions or better yet, facts, and actually contribute to the discussion.
 
Fiction said:
Everything I know is a lie.

I've always prided myself on my good grammar and typing skills. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop doing it, because it just looks wrong to me. Maybe I'll eventually phase it out, but this is seriously the first time I've ever heard of it. And like I said, I am a published author.

I am actually sorta depressed over this. You kids and your single spaces and everything is different!
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I only heard of this weird double spacing crap a few months ago, and quickly paid it no mind.
 
'dat' and '.' are the only grammar or meme related responses that bother me. Though I wish more people would take the time to re-read posts they are replying to and run them through a checklist of

  • Is it maybe sarcastic?
  • Is it a reply to another reply that I missed?
  • Have I read enough of the thread to provide proper context to this post?
  • Am I SURE it isn't sarcasm? Really sure?
  • If I said this post out loud at the dinner table, would I sound like a dickhead?

before replying.

There is another, more subliminal thing that creeps into many gaming-side posts. Other answers in here have hinted at it (anyone who mentioned how polemic and binary arguments often are, are on the right track), but I am bummed whenever I see someone hide an honest opinion behind 'that thing is objectively shit' type posts.

I guess it is easier (and less personal) to hide behind the answer to the circular thought: 'that thing I don't like is a shit thing and because it is a shit thing I don't like it' than it is to honestly own up to - and perhaps justify - your own personal opinion.
 
how am i supposed to incorporate all this shit into my being? let's just become a collective already, one voice. opiate can be locutus of gaf.
 
hey_monkey said:
This seems like a good place to ask, and forgive my wild ignorance, but when someone adds G, A, or F? to a title, what the hell's that mean?
Click to expand...

Germany, Australia, Florida. Three countries GAF often posts news threads about. There was an old thread discussing the discovered accidental backronym.
 
hey_monkey said:
Oh, dude, I don't. I mean, double line spacing, sure. An extra space after a period doesn't add anything unless I feel like giving a kid a very tiny smiley face, I guess.
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It's not really a forum thing but after I read this, I just couldn't tolerate the excessive double-spacing habit any longer.
Typography is for the reader. At least it's not intolerably bad here like some forums where users change their text colors and delve into annoying posting habits with sizes and colors. Maybe it's more of a chat thing.
 
The sarcastic SHOCKING meme that people use for totally expected news in thread titles on GAF.

Like really? Most threads that have fairly expectable news don't use it... so what makes your thread so fuckin' special that you feel the need to telegraph the fact that you're a sarcastic jerk?
 
Skunkers said:
Lots of folks on GAF like to reply to posts with shit like: "What the fuck? In 2013, really?"

Protip: Pretending that an argument is so outrageous you don't know how to reply to it does nothing to refute the argument. Refute it with your own opinions or better yet, facts, and actually contribute to the discussion.
Click to expand...

Lets be real though, some things really are that dumb. Like holocaust denial.
 
I think people bitching constantly about pictures without names is far more annoying than people posting pictures without names. I mean, it isn't that hard to drag a picture to Google or look at the file properties, but most of the time it isn't something you're going to care about even if you knew the name. Even more annoying when they are pictures from famous movies/tv shows that most people should be aware of, even if just from being on GAF and the same things being referenced repeatedly.

I have no idea what TItanfall is and have only seen people complaining about the meme in this thread. Is it a gaming side only thing?
 
Character members who contribute absolutely nothing to a thread other than feeding the persona they've pathetically created for themselves. It is dumb and unimpressive, no one cares.

Sure, some people have very distinctive traits and manners of speech, and that's fine. It's when you can tell a member has sat and thought of a certain way to reply that suits their character rather than just naturally respond with a worthwhile opinion.

I could offer a very obvious example, someone who has posted in this very thread, but I don't know if it is bad form to call out members.
 
"You do realize.....?" is another thing that has been killing me lately. And ending sentences with question marks because your voice would go up as you ended them while speaking, even though they aren't actually questions.
 
Pile ons. Still the same sacks of manure leading the charge half the time too.

Bait threads. Let's make a thread to laugh at other members/stir up some controversy for fun.
 
Forum posting habits that annoy the hell out of me?

My own's.

I love to debate, and I love to be contrarian, sometimes even for the shake of being contrarian. I am the kind of guy who genuinely loved the debating club back in the school, but when talking in person, I tend to be quite level headed and I always try my best too conciliate my postures with the one's of my peers, because understanding the other person is a useful mental exercise that also help's you to empathize better with others.

Enter the online arena, gaf specifically, and all of that goes to shit.

I don't know exactly why, but gaf takes the worst out of me, and I don't like it one bit. I know that I am the one to blame, not these board's but this is something similar to the effect that, say, xbox's live talk or Facebook posts have on people. I feel as if there's something into stake, as if it is either you humilliate the other one side of the debate or risk being humilliated yourself in public. It is probably all on my mind, but I cannot help but feeling a very strong "vae victis" vibe.

And, in the end, on a quest trying to fight what I percieve as other people's stupidity and ego, I find myself falling into exactly these trappings, fueling my own ego and imbecility. I end up arguing with people with the same postures that I also have, or trying to humilliate them as an attempt to prove something, or attempting to shove into everyone's troath how much brilliant I am for thinking on this or that way. Ugh. I can post good things from time to time, but when I look back at some of my posts I cannot help but shaking my head and saying to myself "did I really wrote that? the hell was I thinking? I am not like this... am I?".

So my sincere apologies, gaf. I sometimes forget a very basic truth: being right in a debate or conversation never outweights nor compensate being an asshole, and that's the worst posting habit that one can have.
 
Posting "stop" as a single word reply. I feel like I'm blowing someone's mind and he can't handle it when they respond that.

Adding "smh" to a reply... maybe convey that in your post instead of through a meaningless virtual head gesture.

People quoting an entire post just to write "This".

"Am I the only one that [something not so unusual at all]" threads.
 
People who correct another user's post by starting with "Actually..." >:(

Also, pretty much any attempt to belittle a group you are arguing with(eg. "b-b-buh I thought <insert strawman>", "oh man, smh at all these gaffers who think <insert extreme strawman statement that is often only stated by one or two members in the thread, if any>")

Edit:
Maffis said:
People not respecting spoiler-tags and people that try to avoid spoiler-tags by "hinting" stuff instead.
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Oh yeah, this too. Being considerate about spoilers is one area gaf members are particularly incompetent. Apparently you are expected to have played every game ever if you want to get involved in a thread about stories/endings/twists in games.
 
Fiction said:
Everything I know is a lie.

I've always prided myself on my good grammar and typing skills. I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop doing it, because it just looks wrong to me. Maybe I'll eventually phase it out, but this is seriously the first time I've ever heard of it. And like I said, I am a published author.

I am actually sorta depressed over this. You kids and your single spaces and everything is different!
Click to expand...

There have been some changes, particularly in APA format, which have moved towards the two spaces approach.

APA format shifted from one space to two, although it is far from uniformly accepted at this point.
http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/07/on-two-spaces-following-a-period.html
 
Single spaces after sentences blows my mind as much as when I found out that x, x and x was now what schools taught when my whole life it was x, x, and x. Why are we dropping the last comma in a series now?
 
strobogo said:
Single spaces after sentences blows my mind as much as when I found out that x, x and x was now what schools taught when my whole life it was x, x, and x. Why are we dropping the last comma in a series now?
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We're not. That would be a bannable offense.
 
Quoting the first post, especially if it's long. Everybody already knows what you're replying to, there's no need for another copy of it to scroll through.
 
strobogo said:
Single spaces after sentences blows my mind as much as when I found out that x, x and x was now what schools taught when my whole life it was x, x, and x. Why are we dropping the last comma in a series now?
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I was taught that it doesn't matter outside of when clarity is an issue; you just need to ensure consistency.
 
strobogo said:
Single spaces after sentences blows my mind as much as when I found out that x, x and x was now what schools taught when my whole life it was x, x, and x. Why are we dropping the last comma in a series now?
Click to expand...

We're not, but meaning differs when you use it; i.e.:

To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.
There is ambiguity about the writer's parentage, because Ayn Rand and God can be read as in apposition to my parents, leading the reader to believe that the writer claims Ayn Rand and God are the parents. A comma before and removes the ambiguity:
To my parents, Ayn Rand, and God.
Click to expand...
 
strobogo said:
I think people bitching constantly about pictures without names is far more annoying than people posting pictures without names. I mean, it isn't that hard to drag a picture to Google or look at the file properties, but most of the time it isn't something you're going to care about even if you knew the name. Even more annoying when they are pictures from famous movies/tv shows that most people should be aware of, even if just from being on GAF and the same things being referenced repeatedly.

I have no idea what TItanfall is and have only seen people complaining about the meme in this thread. Is it a gaming side only thing?
Click to expand...

Is it that hard to look up the Titanfall thing?
 
People who always are negative about everything and later say that they were the one that always said it would have a negative outcome.

F.e. people who always complain about a certain videogame and then when it turns out to have some negative sides they will post 1.000 times they said it all along...
 
kurisu1974 said:
We're not, but meaning differs when you use it; i.e.:
Click to expand...

I went back to my school a year or two after I graduated and my English teacher was complaining about how she now had to teach to drop the last comma in a series. I agree that it often completely changes the meaning of what you're trying to say, but kids are being taught otherwise now.

NinjaFridge said:
Is it that hard to look up the Titanfall thing?
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I would guess this is in reference to me saying just to look up a picture if you don't know the name. I don't care to know about Titanfall, I just thought it was interesting that multiple complaints about it being used as a meme have come up, but I've never even encountered it on GAF before this thread.
 
kmfdmpig said:
APA format shifted from one space to two, although it is far from uniformly accepted at this point.
http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/07/on-two-spaces-following-a-period.html
Click to expand...

That's really retarded, why would they do that?

Why would they recommend 2 spaces for scientific manuscripts, when in the final published version, it will only have 1 space after a period? (Just like 99% of writing in the civilized world?)

They say, "this new recommendation will help ease their reading by breaking up the text into manageable, more easily recognizable chunks".

Well, you don't hear readers of published pieces complain about unreadability due to insufficient spaces, or readers of basically everything that has ever been written anywhere by anyone?
 
People quoting someone else's post, then altering it and putting "fixed" after it. That's not their quote, dammit. Post it as-is or don't quote it. You have no right to attribute a false quote to someone. Should be bannable.
 
people that put their name at the end of their post. Seriously we can see your fucking name on the left, no need to sign your post.
 
I hate when people post, then edit in a quote from a post that was posted after their original post. It always makes me stop for a second and think "wait, I didn't read that post, did I miss it some how?" It's passable when the quoted post is just after the offending post, but it's a damn crime when it is more than one post away.
 
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