Posting habits people can do without

[diaglo]

8. Not using any capital letters (alternatively, only capital letters) or punctuation, and people who use "l334" speak. If what you have to say is worth reading, it's worth spending an extra 5 seconds to type it correctly.

yeah, b/c using capital letters just changes the whole meaning of what is typed.

9. Colors. Changing color is useful if you want to black something out to avoid spoilers or info about a duel. It's not aesthetically pleasing, it's not cool looking, and it's not going to make you stand out (at least, not in the way you want it too).

and many message boards give you the option to control this too. same with script.

10. Needless text formatting. Making something bold and/or italic is useful when you need to make something visually stand out from the rest of the text. It doesn't make your point any stronger. Same goes for using huge letters.

which is a part of the bulletin board or whatever program is used to write the code for the boards.

 

[alsih2o]

Is there something wrong with the idea that not everyone shares the same interests, schedule, and techniques?

No, nothing wrong there. What is wrong is people saying there right to read only what they want is more important than someone elses right to post what they want.

Big difference. I think what Crothian is referring to is people who have an attitude that everyone should only post what THEY find relevant or interesting, and that all else is a waste. The implication is that one persons interest or angle is useless because one reader finds it useless.

 

[Henry]

Regarding Line by Line responses:

The biggest problem is that line-by-lines get quickly out-of-hand, expecially when two people use it on one another. It's like a branching-chain combustion; person A uses it, writes lengthy multiline responses to each point. Then Person B uses it, breaking down each point in person A's response, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Before you know it, it takes 15 minutes to read ONE person's post. Most people skip over such lengthy diatribes, not bothering to read them, post their own answers, and then get yelled at for "not reading the whole thread" when a point they made came up in one of the pointless multi-point posts. I see it occasionally over in the Rules Forum, which is why I don't bother mostly to post there, except for site duties. When two multi-line posters get started on one another, it's like trying to untwine spaghetti before eating it.

 

[alsih2o]

it's like trying to untwine spaghetti before eating it.

Great, now the mods are mocking how I eat!

 

[Afrodyte]

No, nothing wrong there. What is wrong is people saying there right to read only what they want is more important than someone elses right to post what they want.

Big difference. I think what Crothian is referring to is people who have an attitude that everyone should only post what THEY find relevant or interesting, and that all else is a waste. The implication is that one persons interest or angle is useless because one reader finds it useless.

I don't recall anybody actually saying that. Since it seems that I was unclear about my point, I'll clarify.

Your right to say what you want is not really the issue. On most fora, only the mods and admins have any real power to censure anyone. Censorship, though, is not the issue. Nor is ethics. It's purely an etiquette thing. If you don't care about that sort of thing, that's fine. Yet, don't be surprised if people tell you that you're being obnoxious. A very extreme example:

Poster A starts a thread that asks, "I want to run a mystery game. Can you give me some hints about how to run this scenario?"
Posters B thru F respond constructively.
Poster G then replies: "All that is in the DMG. Besides, mysteries suck."
Poster H: How can you say mysteries suck?! I've been running mysteries since 1st edition, and my players have been having a blast! If mysteries suck, it's because the GM sucks.
Posters J thru M debate about whether mysteries make for good campaigns.
Poster A wonders where the thread went.

Basically, I'm going by the principle that "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose" but applying it to a broader context. That's all. What I raised are not divine commandments. They are not a challenge for you to defend yourself. I'm not saying that people who do these things are bad, evil, nasty people and should be punished. I approach a lot of the things I listed in my first post with the same amount of irritation as I do someone cutting me off in traffic or tailgating me. It doesn't make me go ballistic, but it does color how I view that person and respond to them.

 

[Afrodyte]

Regarding Line by Line responses:

The biggest problem is that line-by-lines get quickly out-of-hand, expecially when two people use it on one another. It's like a branching-chain combustion; person A uses it, writes lengthy multiline responses to each point. Then Person B uses it, breaking down each point in person A's response, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Before you know it, it takes 15 minutes to read ONE person's post. Most people skip over such lengthy diatribes, not bothering to read them, post their own answers, and then get yelled at for "not reading the whole thread" when a point they made came up in one of the pointless multi-point posts. I see it occasionally over in the Rules Forum, which is why I don't bother mostly to post there, except for site duties. When two multi-line posters get started on one another, it's like trying to untwine spaghetti before eating it.

Exactly, and to be honest, EN World is not as bad about this as some other boards (*cough*RPGnet*cough*). But then again, I don't go to every area in EN World, so I can't say for sure.

 

[Crothian]

For you, maybe, but not everyone, and not all the time. Is there something wrong with the idea that not everyone shares the same interests, schedule, and techniques?

Of course not, but these boards are by no means forcing people to read them. THe idea that my post is wasting someone's time is absurd. No one is making anyone read them or participate here. Also, most posts take how many seconds to read..like ten or maybe even a minute for a long one.

 

[Desdichado]

I am so guilty of some many of those I have to wonder why I am not banned or ignored more! Except for 7, that is just too much work to answer a post line-by-line.

That's the beautiful thing; you never actually know how much you're ignored. I'm betting I've got a good 20% of active users ignoring me.

EDIT: Oh, also about colors. Given that we now have skins, with vastly different colors, you pretty much can't count on any color changes for the majority of your text being good. My sig has two unique colors in it, and I tested it on all sigs, but I certainly wouldn't use it for, say, all the text of my posts. And it's really annoying when someone changes the color only a little bit, but that means that the text is almost exactly the same color as the background in the PHB skin, for instance, making it impossible to read without highlighting. Guess what? Most of the time, that means me no readie.

 

[Berandor]

That's the beautiful thing; you never actually know how much you're ignored. I'm betting I've got a good 20% of active users ignoring me.

Yeah, me for example.

What?

 

[diaglo]

That's the beautiful thing; you never actually know how much you're ignored. I'm betting I've got a good 20% of active users ignoring me.

believe it or not i read all your posts.

my ignore list is longer than.... well i can't count that high.