Annoying internet spawn

[Zelgadis 638]

I was born in 1976, way before the world wide web.

Life was...  different.  But at least I was born into the video game era having acquired a Pong console way back in 1978. 

But I still remember life before pervasive internet.  Now, there is a lot that's great about the internet.  I frequently read the New York Times and Washington Post online and there are a host of websites out there that have made my life more enjoyable, including www.notalwaysright.com, which I check every day. 

But the internet has spawned a lot of real annoyances  I have three big ones.

1)  LOLcats.  Please, will somebody make it stop?  It was kinda funny at first, but I can't go a week without somebody depositing this inane garbage in my inbox!

2)  headdesk/facepalm.  It was okay when it happened once in awhile, but now I'm seeing people using this constantly, even when it's unnecessary.

3)  Wikipedia.  Please, if I ask a question, please direct me to a site with actual information, and not that writhing cesspool of misinformation known as "wiki." 

Okay, your turn.  Rant. 

ISF

[Joesocwork 4]

Being born in 1963, I'm still not sure what a LOLcat or headdesk/facepalm is. And people consider me computer savvy at work!      But working w/ yutes, er a youths, I share the concern of #3 about the use of the Internet as the general resource catchall for research w/out a solid fact check or statement of source.

[panthersimcity4 162]

Awww, but I like Lolcats! Then again that might be because I don't spend alot of time on the internet.

I have some additions to your list:

4) Pppllz hoo speeek lyk diz LAWLZ!!!11

5) People who through internet anonymity generally like to make other people angry by, say, insulting their culture

ex: "O ya Hindus r gay LOLOLOL!"

6) I agree with you about Wikipedia. While some articles are factual I can think of a few that I've read that are extremely biased and incorrect.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: zelgadis

1)  LOLcats.  Please, will somebody make it stop?  It was kinda funny at first, but I can't go a week without somebody depositing this inane garbage in my inbox! quote>

With you on that one. Lolcats = not funny.

2)  headdesk/facepalm.  It was okay when it happened once in awhile, but now I'm seeing people using this constantly, even when it's unnecessary.quote>

This isn't actually a strictly internet thing, though. Facepalming is an actual gesture that people in real life actually use. Headdesking is more of a cartoon thing but still is not something that originated with the internet.

It is therefore not something I mind. In fact, it's something I've been known to do myself.

3)  Wikipedia.  Please, if I ask a question, please direct me to a site with actual information, and not that writhing cesspool of misinformation known as "wiki."  quote>

Nonsense. Wikipiedia is the single largest collection of all human knowledge. Granted, it's not flawless but it is self-policing and if you doubt any of the information you can always check the citations. And it's a convenient place to go since you know you're likely to find what you're looking for there. No other single website really has that quality.

Originally posted by: panthersimcity4

4) Pppllz hoo speeek lyk diz LAWLZ!!!11 quote>

With you 100%.

5) People who through internet anonymity generally like to make other people angry by, say, insulting their culture

ex: "O ya Hindus r gay LOLOLOL!"quote>

True. See: John Gabriel's greater internet ****wad theory.

[TV-VCR 15]

Ok then,

Youtube comments.

Those are only two examples I could find. If I wanted to post screencaps of every moronic conversation on youtube I would need petabytes of storage space.

Whatever happened to natural selection?

[Eastwinn 6]

Joe: LOLcats are pictures of (mostly) cats with funny captions on them. They have their moments. I personally think a lot of them are funny. Face palming is, like Duke said, something people do in real life. It's when you smack yourself in the forehead, place your head in your palm or pinch the bridge of your nose when someone does something stupid. The internet "phenomenon" is using "facepalm" or "/facepalm" as a response when someone says something stupid. I've used it more than once because it has it's appropriate times. Zel was referring to overuse of it, which annoys me just as much.

Also, Zel: Your #3: I agree with Duke. Wikipedia is a great site, no matter what. Sure, it's not always accurate but it can be a great starting point for research on a subject you know little about. It's has more entries than a regular encyclopedia and it's entries are more detailed. However, it should never be a serious source for a paper or something, that's just silly.

[vailo 13]

1)  LOLcats.  Please, will somebody make it stop?  It was kinda funny at first, but I can't go a week without somebody depositing this inane garbage in my inbox!quote>

I personally don't mind them, but I think I would if I got spammed with them.

2)  headdesk/facepalm.  It was okay when it happened once in awhile, but now I'm seeing people using this constantly, even when it's unnecessary.quote>

I think that it is the users that are underage who watch shows on PBS that use "underexaggerated overexaggerations" (example: Yu-Gi-Oh: Oh no. What am I gonna do? Dis guy has a big fat dragon an all I got is dis cheesy flowa. *facepalm* (BTW, they do talk like that, I have since adbandoned that show)) I also do find it saddening that I walk around a middle school seeing kids laying down Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic cards. Also, I have a 13 year old friend who, at a retreat, was surprised to see me and said, "But you went- But you were- I thought you- " The kind of staggered yelling. So elementary school.

3)  Wikipedia.  Please, if I ask a question, please direct me to a site with actual information, and not that writhing cesspool of misinformation known as "wiki."  quote>

This is my own opinion on this: I wouldn't think that a school textbook isn't unbiased. A text book is just one interpertation of an event, wouldn't Wikipedia be the interpertation of, say, hundreds? Plus you have some people that might have gone through the event who would be kind enough to contribute their account of what really happened. Sure, Wikipedia may be very flawed, but how can you prove encyclopedias and textbooks aren't flawed too?

4) Pppllz hoo speeek lyk diz LAWLZ!!!11 quote>

I couldn't agree with you more.

5) People who through internet anonymity generally like to make other people angry by, say, insulting their culture

ex: "O ya Hindus r gay LOLOLOL!" quote>

People who do that have no lives and need to get a hobby. I have a teacher in my school that totally ruined the life of this guy who was racist, and when he made this racist statement, told everyone in his afterschool to, if possible, text and voicemail this kid saying "Apologize!" in each of the messages. The kid called back, crying, asking them to stop. His phone bills were astronomically high, and his phone overloaded from all those voicemails and texts. The kid stopped.

Originally posted by: TV-VCR Ok then,

Youtube comments.

Those are only two examples I could find. If I wanted to post screencaps of every moronic conversation on youtube I would need petabytes of storage space.

quote>

I've seen people post garbage like that, but mostly it's because they can't make a decent video, and have to put other people down to make themselves feel good.

However, I have heard one person say, "Flamming someone online is like participating in the special Olympics. Even if you win, you are still retarded."

[masochist 111]

Originally posted by: zelgadis there are a host of websites out there that have made my life more enjoyable, including www.notalwaysright.com, which I check every day.  quote>

Great, great site!  Good for a laugh or seven !

Anyways...along with most of the above entries (I enjoy Wikipedia, and actually Wiki-surf every now and then when I'm really bored), here's one that's starting to really get on my nerves: peEeps Who TaLk 71k3 tHiS simply to show their disdain for someone else, or to express their feelings towards a topic.  I see that everywhere, more than I see people who type like that simply to type like that, and I relate it to someone who uses a "retarded" voice/hand motion to mock someone else.  It really gets under my skin when people do that nowadays....

[Zelgadis 638]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Nonsense. Wikipiedia is the single largest collection of all human knowledge. Granted, it's not flawless but it is self-policing and if you doubt any of the information you can always check the citations. And it's a convenient place to go since you know you're likely to find what you're looking for there. No other single website really has that quality.quote>

Step one, replace the word "knowledge" with "spam," and I will agree with you. 

And citations?  For a proper work of trusted research, they would have to ramp up the number of citations by about 10X.  I'm frequently amazed at the vast amount of info that isn't required by wiki to be cited.  Most importantly, I want to know who wrote it.  In any written work, this is extremely important.  The information contained in a written work is relevant, of course, but you can learn more about a written work by learning about the person who wrote it than anything else.  Wiki shrouds authorship in a veil of anonymity. 

If, say, Dr. Steven May (real person) writes a cross-reference database of Shakespearian sonnets (he really did), then I can learn more about Dr. Steven May, about his credentials, about his motivations, and about any real or perceived biases he may have.  With wiki, you can't do that.  Nobody can do that.  And that's why wiki cannot be reasonably policed with any measurable degree of accuracy.  Sure, there are the inadequate citations, but that will only give you part of the background you need to know.

I like writers I can trust.  Back to Dr. May, I know he's one of the world's foremost experts on Shakespearian poetry.  I've read his other works and have learned to respect his insight.  Therefore, I don't have to go too far to be able to trust what he writes.

Well, I've said enough.  I was going to have a response to everyone, on the wiki subject, but that's enough. 

I had a funny feeling that my opinion about wiki wouldn't be popular. 

ISF

[gurrgkud 2]

My biggest pet peeve with the internet is the fact that it is being detrimental to the spelling and grammar of today's society. LOLSpeak = "Newspeak" from 1984.

I'm also not too fond of Wikipedia as well. There are so many great places to get PRIMARY sources. Books are still a tremendous gold mine of information. I must agree that Wikipedia is a good place to start doing preliminary research, since it can lead you into the right direction. [Talking about books, I hate how now the cool thing to do is bash books and call "nerds" to those that actually read and want to broaden their intellectual horizon].

Other than that, the internet should be about having harmless fun and enriching your life, but your life shouldn't revolve around it [checking myspace every 5 seconds instead of actually visiting or calling your friends].

Ok, I'm done for now. Good thread.

[SimRabbit 48]

LOLCat is old fashioned now.

FAIL and PWN is what is hot.

Yeah it's OVER 9000!!!!!!

[Explodingsims 3]

Yay! An Internet Rant thread!

Okay, lets get started!

1. Well, Since I just found them a few months ago, I find Lolcats hilarious! But, I only check them about once a week or less. And if someone spammed my inbox with them, I'd learn to hate them.

2. Enclyopedia Dramatica.

3. If you think Youtube comments are bad, look at some of the comments of Lolcats, a bunch of people all racing to post "First" and then starting a page long flame session.

4. Those people on Myspace who feel they have to post all those Chain mail surveys, AND, the people who have to post " OMG I HAS NEW PICS!! PLZ COMMENT!!!" Okay, if you just post them, people will see them. There's no need to go all crazy on it.

5. As stated my everyone else, people who say: YoU are Teh Gay! or insult various religions or things they don't understand. It doesn't make you look cool, okay, you just look like a foolish kid with no life.

Thats about it for now.

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

I always thought Wiki was somewhat reliable, with the citations and all.  But you're right, Zel, without knowing the author, his background, biases, etc., it's hard to evaluate.  Oh, and I find it  annoying when I don't know something about a topic and someone just sends a Wiki link, as if that explains everything

[Ntq€310 1]

umm i guess how crapheads can right anything they want too! perfect example youtube!

And people sending me crap emails, like the chain mails, or the funny wierd pictures, the random questions, and basiclly crap i dont care about.

[Streetwise 3]

Originally posted by: gurrgkud My biggest pet peeve with the internet is the fact that it is being detrimental to the spelling and grammar of today's society. LOLSpeak = "Newspeak" from 1984.

Books are still a tremendous gold mine of information. quote>

 

I'll take books over reading material online any time. They are easier on the eyes than the computer screen, and I like their feel and smell. I also love book stores.

[coolotter88 2]

I will have to disagree about wikipedia. Wikipedia is the best place to look up something quickly and it does provide accurate information. granted, for a formal research paper, don't use ANY encyclopedia, but any quick little fact can be found on wikipedia. I've worked with PhD s who use Wikipedia on a daily basis to look up things they don't know purely for convenience. I was surprised at first but considering this, you can realize how accurate wikipedia is if these research professionals trust it.

@BlondTwiggy: Wikipedia is the BEST place to start looking up something you don't know about. of course it won't explain everything, but it's better than reading a verbose, boring, paper at first. Wikipedia articles can give you an introduction to the topic to get you to understand it better. most articles are written so that the average person can understand most of the concepts. Then, if you want to know more, no one is stopping you from visiting the links at the bottom of the page. My Father is an IP lawyer and he often uses Wikipedia to understand parts of the patents he reviews that he can't make head or tail of.

Wikipedia, trusted by professionals around the world.

[Joesocwork 4]

I still don't know what a LOLcat or a headdesk/facepalm looks like.  Maybe I've seen and not known that it was that.  Wikipedia is definitely convenient, but it expects a certain amount of trust.  If I were writing, editing, or judging a paper I would demand rigorous research full of precise citations that Wikipedia doesn't always give.  Just like any technology, I sometimes fear the Internet gives some tools for expediency at the expense of thoroughness in one's own work.  Even though I've done it myself, I think writing "here is the wiki link..." is lazy.    As someone with dyslexia, Netspeak gives me one big headache.  I also certainly hate e-mail spam and the lengths the senders will go through to find one sucker to buy useless or illegal products.

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Nonsense. Wikipiedia is the single largest collection of all human knowledge. Granted, it's not flawless but it is self-policing and if you doubt any of the information you can always check the citations. And it's a convenient place to go since you know you're likely to find what you're looking for there. No other single website really has that quality.quote>

Step one, replace the word "knowledge" with "spam," and I will agree with you. 

And citations?  For a proper work of trusted research, they would have to ramp up the number of citations by about 10X.  I'm frequently amazed at the vast amount of info that isn't required by wiki to be cited.quote>

Interesting thread. I'll have to participate in it myself .

I don't think Wikipedia is the largest collection of human spam. But it isn't all of human knowledge either.

Wikipedia is a pretty good collection of information from various sources assembled into one place. It isn't perfect, and a lot of the articles aren't exactly neutral. I use Wikipedia a lot, and I usually check other sources as well for my info.

It is usually self-policing, but sometimes it isn't. In short, it is a good collection, but you need to balance it with other sources, like any other site.

- Patricius Maximus

[hym 358]

Two things I dislike about the internet:

Chain Mail: Yes, yes, I know this is a wonderfully inspirational story of a woman who nearly died and didn't because of this, that, or the other. However, like the stain on the shirt in the Tide commercials, the "wonderful story" is drowned out by a horribly formatted email that looks like it's been added to and revised as it traveled around the internet.

OMG YOU DON'T HAVE A MYSPACE!!!!: Seriously folks. Myspace and Facebook are good, but it doesn't make me a socially inept person because I believe in my own personal privacy and don't want to share details of my life with everyone on the internet. (And don't tell me that setting my profile to private will stop that because it won't. Invariably someone will leak something that they shouldn't have.)

[Ntq€310 1]

Thank the god someone finally said it, i finally know im not the olny one who dosent care for facebook or myspace, i find them ok but preety useless, isnt this the reason why we have im's?

And Chainmail of anykind, and just people who send you useless messages. There's the chainmail on youtube where it says 'This person died and if you dont post this m essage 3 times somewhere else you will die too' then there's the 'you will kiss the love of your life if you post this message 3 times' and the chain mail where it ask you questions and your supppose to send them to 5 other people, and the useeless emails? well i get messages sent to me where i cant even find anything directed at me, i might find a conversation, but i cant find the purpose of the damn message.

[Hummer bob 1 4]

I agree with the no myspace/facebook thing. Everyone in school has one, and everyone tells me "Omg like you don't have a myspace?!?!?!?!!". I must have been on myspace twice in my life, and I have never visited facebook. Somehow posting pictures of myself so other people could look at them and 'comment' isn't appealing to me. I don't care if everyone else has one, its something that never interested me.

[Rymac91 15]

Born in 1991, I've always been around computers, and I remember when I was given internet access back in 2000(30 minutes on dialup though).

I have to admit I'm surprised how much has changed online, unfortunately, I have to also admit I hate how it feels like there's a lack of containment from the idiots, haters, rasicts, flammers, trolls, psychotics and the life forms masquerading as human beings.

I'm somewhat neutral on the lol cat thing, but I have 3 cats in my house, and I don't get hammered by them in my inbox.

I hate the spam bots that flood any possible avenue for communication that even has a breath of the chance of being popular.

I honestly wish there was a way to report deceptive videos on youtube, which unfortunately isn't available on at the moment.

I also hate how people think that all wikis are good sources for information even when they are not to be taken seriously(you'd think people would understand Uncyclopedia and various others aren't actual information wikis), I had people refer ridiculous facts from other wikis that are so far off I can't believe they are dumb enough to believe them and use them in a argument or debate.

It does bother me how people used to pester me because I don't use Myspace, but now they're on Facebook so it works out. When people ask me if I have one of ethier, I just tell them to look for me and see if I'm there.

And finally, I hate getting spammed with memes(which have apparently started going through email), enough said about that.

One thing I'm grateful for are those chain messages on websites dieing out, I was seriously wondering how many people actually believed that if they didn't send it, that there would be a dead girl in their closet staring at them with her red eyes.

[Joesocwork 4]

The thing is that as popular as myspace/facebook can be in the school and casual realms, it can be potentially dangerous in the professional realm. First, businesses that allow employees to use the Internet for personal use will still ban the use of myspace/facebook sites. Second, personal information, personal writing styles, and definitely communications about one's company and management, can get back to the employer and hurt one's career. Everything on the Internet is public. I try to be very careful about how the JoeSocWork and other potential identities are reflected when I surf and use the Internet. You never know what can back to people who may matter.

[Mother of Invention 23]

Am I the only one who finds ORLY owls a million times more annoying than LOLCats?

[Joesocwork 4]

Great. I don't know what an ORLY is either!

[gurrgkud 2]

Originally posted by: Joesocwork Great. I don't know what an ORLY is either! quote>

O RLY?

Edit: PS. It means "Oh, really?"

It started ages ago when some girl stole a Sidekick, and the guy made a big scene on the internet about it, and she used to text him from the stolen cell phone, and one of the texts was "ORLY?"

Don't ask how I know that....

[coolotter88 2]

@Rymac: Don't go hating the rickroll just because you fell for it.

[Joesocwork 4]

ORLY sounds exactly like the name one would give to a western movie Sidekick.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Joesocwork ORLY sounds exactly like the name one would give to a western movie Sidekick.quote>

Actually, it's apparently a suburb of Paris... and an Airport!

[hamsterTK 93]

 It's good to remember that there is more than just scholarly knowlege out there.

Before Wikipedia you might have to spend hours wading through even crappier personal webpages to find obscure information.

I think Wikipedia rocks. If I find something that doesn't seem right I check it out. I also don't really use it for anything too complex. Also it's fantastic because it's written to be informative to average readers and avoids being dry.