# Forum Pet Peeves



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I've been dabbling in cooking forums for about a year now, never having participated before. I enjoy the community here and other forums of which I am a member. Chef Talk is my favorite since people are very open here, and nobody gets really personal. I also enjoy the Jamie oliver forums because the people there are mostly british, european, and australian and it's great to hear their point of views like Thanksgiving is not even mentioned there so it's funny.

This past year I've come to like many aspects of the forums but these are the things that bug me. Do you have pet peeves too?

- Post and run - when someone posts a question and then never return to thank the people who have tried to help or even check back for answers.
- The never ending posts - I try to skip over posts that are brought up over and over and over again like "what's your favorite food" or "how do you make stock?" There are plenty of posts about these and although everyone has the right to bring them up any time they want I tend to roll my eyes if it's a recurring theme.
- Vague Posts - "What would you make for a dinner party of 8?" or "Do you know any low-cal recipes?" 
- Posters who only post answers, but never post questions. Come on, do you really know everything???


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Post and run - when someone posts a question and then never return to thank the people who have tried to help or even check back for answers.

always nice to hear how the event went or if they adapted from suggestions, but not expected
- The never ending posts - I try to skip over posts that are brought up over and over and over again like "what's your favorite food" or "how do you make stock?" There are plenty of posts about these and although everyone has the right to bring them up any time they want I tend to roll my eyes if it's a recurring theme.in the past they have been entertaining to say the least, that's when forums were new and many would hang out, keep the post going....critters inside critters comes to mind, grossest food also
- Vague Posts - "What would you make for a dinner party of 8?" or "Do you know any low-cal recipes?" usually posted by a newby that has not figured out that the more input the better the responses
- Posters who only post answers, but never post questions. Come on, do you really know everything??? yep they do
__________________


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## dillbert (Jul 2, 2008)

I've been 'on-line' since the mid 80's. back then you had to have some substantial knowledge to fire up your 300 baud modem, dial it out long distance, and 'touch' someone..... 
get yerself confused on the stop bit and you be stopped alright . . . 

>>people who never come back
there are people who never knew they were here; they cannot 'come back' - they know not where they were, or in what 'format' they were in. not everybody who can click a mouse has the experience to 'know' about message boards. 

to wit: "Hi I'm Newbie Gnu, and I need to know . . . my email is . . ." 
like this is a "tech service" thing . . .
one must just have to go with the flow, and be not so upset. some of the most valuable / helpful / knowledgeable people I've met on-line started out precisely that way - I know, I was there.
and,,,, I admit to shortening my efforts responding to such freshman - based entirely on the suspicion that it is all in vain, they never find their way back.

>>never ending posts
definitely. to wit the reply to a four year old post - where the original poster never returned, even. 
should I have my way with the world, all threads older than a year (ah,, pick a number...whatever, something "old") would automatically be locked.

>>answers, no questions
a bit narrow minded methinks. I'm not a professional - I just cook multiple times a day and having a serious interest in the topic, I have a limited number of questions. most of the time I do my own experiments seeking the ultimate enlightenment....
meanwhile, keep in mind a question/problem may hit a very tender note with somebody who has already 'solved' the problem and is willing to share their learning. since I have no formal / book learning, I can only share what I've experienced / learned first hand comma "for real"

>>vague / undefined posts/questions
makes you wonder, no? 
master, what is the meaning of life?
can you email me that?


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## shipscook (Jan 14, 2007)

post and run sucks because on the forums I go to there is a lot of knowledge and curiousity. Often when a queary is interesting there are many of us who enjoy doing a search. guess we are just show offs, but a thanks would be cool.

Not so much here, but on formats where you must open the reply, I have seen people go to the bottom and reply, without opening the above? and there will be many answers saying the same thing!!

Also in that format, often the total reply is in the subject line. one opens it to nothing. a polite nt (no text) is good.

I feel most everyone is patient with the vague questions. often, someone will nicely ask for more details.

I had not thought of people who only answer, hmmmmm, there are some of those.

good thread,
Nan


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Oh yeah that reminds me, people who don't read through the thread before they post and end up posting exactly the same thing that was just posted.


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## free rider (May 23, 2006)

My pet peeve is the pat answer "Do a Google search" or "Search the forums". Seriously, would I be asking on the forum if the search on either Google or the forum itself had revealed anything worthy? (now that was a rhetorical question).

Been using the internet since 1981. Yes, prior to the www.

Ping.


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## dillbert (Jul 2, 2008)

check the time stamps (disregarding recalcitrant software....)

there's been way more than one instance where people are composing an answer and somebody else is 40 seconds ahead of them.

mechanics of life, not always pretty . . .


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

1. Responding before reading all of the posts in a thread (I admit to being guilty of this in the past). My favorite was a response in agreement with someone else as to "what to do", long after the thread progressed to "what was done" and "how it went".

2. Yelling. As in ALL CAPS. (hmmm, maybe that's number 1).

3. All business, no play. 
a. No room for humor in a thread. 
b. Being upset because the thread veers from the original intent.
I always look at the forum as a room we're all sitting in, BS'ing about food and whatnot. In a the normal course of conversation, especially considering that we all have varying personalities, the discussions will take side routes, and humor will be injected at times. Lighten up.


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## mont86 (Jan 24, 2009)

I belong to a couple types of forums..seems to happen on all forums.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Hmmm...Post and Run prob the worst, especially where a member goes to the trouble of researching an answer/ solution and the time and effort to type it up for the person with the query.

Shouting is prob just a newbie issue - ignore it 

Been on net since '91, so have seen a lot change, and glad it has. Used to see one page load in 5 minutes - WOW!!!!! that was fast hehehe 

Threads will follow their own natural direction and stray from the original question, its like any normal conversation. You'll start out talking about one thing then ending up somehwere totally different and wonder, "How did we get here and how did we get started on this?", I quite enjoy that


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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

Animals inside other animals? Hmmm gives me an idea.


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## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

I'm sorry to say that I'm usually a Poster-Runner though not usually intentional. I have long idle times with forums especially around Sept to mid-late Feb, sometimes longer. 

My main pet peeve are 1337 talkers..especially those that talk "smack". I know, for the most part, the language but at the end of my work day I can barely make out the numbers on my phone bill or credit card statement let alone deciphering code talk about someone dissing my bad habit of biting my t-shirt collar when tired. Wanna say something in English? Use English please! Thankfully there aren't many, if any, here at all. Please stay that way Cheftalk.


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## oahuamateurchef (Nov 23, 2006)

Post-runners: Sorry if I've done that, probably guilty...well maybe just being late to reply isn't as bad. Cheftalk is one of eleven other forums I post at so sometimes I'll post and forget for a week or two.


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## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

I've been dealing with email lists, bulletin boards, forums and such since the early 1980s. I'm about 256 years old in computer time. One technical type thing I don't like is when someone will quote an entire message in their response when a simple one or two lines of the original text will suffice. Why should I have to wade through a bunch of unneeded stuff when a moment or two of proper editing on your part would have worked? Especially when pictures are involved. Sigh.

Another annoying but somewhat understandable occurence is the vague post. You know, the ones that are some variation of "I want to cook some food. What should I do?" Not everyone out there is an accomplished chef, people find their way here through various paths and honestly need basic, simple information about cooking. They have an idea of what they want, but don't yet have the language to express it - a little more detail would net some better answers. Culinary students looking to cheat on their homework is different :look:

I do enjoy this forum, though I have been slacking a bit lately and have missed some discussions. In general it is civilized, intelligent, informed discourse about a subject near and dear to our hearts. I thank you all for that.

mjb.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

In the immortal words of Dr. Evil "Very well, where do I begin". ha ha 

1.) USE THE SEARCH
Users who do not search first before posting. We must have 500 million, kagillion, zillion posts on knives. 

2.) FREELOADERS
Gotta love all the people who register just to tell you about their website, or blog, kitchen rental space or whatever. Hey everyone, the web (hard to believe) is not free. It does cost us to keep the lights on. 

3.) TROUBLE MAKERS
You know them those lovely people that just like to cause dissension and not promote harmony.

4.) THERE ARE KIDS HERE
I have been blown away by how many people will post inappropriate material (jokes, images etc). ChefTalk has tons of kids who come to the site for research. We like a clean forum please. 

5) THIS IS A FOOD & COOKING FORUM
No we will not start a "political discussions" forum. So many have a hard time understanding that if you want to talk politics then go to a political forum. Want to talk about tech stuff go to a tech forum.

6) STAY ON TOPIC
Really bugs me when we are talking about poached eggs and four posts into the discussion someone starts talking about PETA. 

7) PEOPLE WHO USE AD BLOCK
Sure, it is nice to use ChefTalk and not see the ads. But those ads help pay for the forums why not support resources you use regularly by buying a paid membership for 12.00 lousy dollars. (sorry very sensitive about this).

8) STALKER REQUESTS
I am amazed by how many requests I have had to change a username for or hear "please be aware" I am being stalked on the internet by this person. How about getting a new email and registering with a different username?

9) THE RE-POSTER
Drives me crazy when someone will post the same thread in 5 forums. 

10) COMPLAINERS
Those that never offer to help, never offer financial support and send PM complaints regularly.


11) PLEASE LEAVE THE NY TIMES STUFF ON THEIR SITE
Those that have a NY times website membership and then post full page articles from their site on ChefTalk. Same goes for recipes. Post a link to the recipe or article don't use content without permission.



That should do it!


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## tandac (Mar 15, 2009)

Number 7 Motivated the $12.00 payment. Not that I mind the ads but I use it so I should pay for it. I spend $12.00 just to try a few grams of a spice I've never worked with


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## dgcooks (Mar 20, 2009)

poor spelling, am I really the only one bothered by this?


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

A incorrectly spelled word now and then doesn't bother me, it could just be a typo.
Lord knows I'm guilty of that fairly often.
I'm the world's fastest hunt-and-peck typist, and that particular skill lends itself to errors.
Horribly spelled words, with the identical error multiple times in the same post, is mildly annoying.
As long as I can understand the gist of what they are saying I'm okay.
If I can't understand the gist, then I would ask them to GYST.


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## amazingrace (Jul 28, 2006)

"other peepls' pet peaves" bother me


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

I really appreciate that! Now if only more people would support us.


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## rpmcmurphy (Jan 8, 2008)

Anyway to bookmark a link that is to a "todays posts" search. I like to look at all the forums new posts at once.


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## dillbert (Jul 2, 2008)

thousand year old threads; more specifically replies to . . . 

Das Ist Zucker

original question asked 02-16-2006
answer(s) acknowledge on 03-31-2006
never heard from again.

a one poster 'answer' on 09-11-2008

Lowell, an apparent bookseller, posting 04-22-2009

and more answers following that.

perhaps all thread older than x should be permanently locked?


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

As a Welcome Forum moderator, I appreciate it when new members reply to my welcome rather than "posting and running". I do take time to personalize nearly every "welcome" post, and try to elicit more about the person without being nosy.

So "post and run" is an annoyance to me as well.

Again, a propos the Welcome Forum, I don't like it when people post quesitons or information. The guidelines state that the Welcome Forum isn't the place for questions or topical posts; there's a "sticky" post on the forum as well; but many people post extraneous things there anyway.









Aside from that, I think of Chef Talk as my online home. I hope others enjoy it as much as I do.


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Jim!
How about Culinary Students that want us to do the homework they should really be looking up and learning.:bounce:


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

You know, when I originally responded, this wasn't even on my radar.
But I've noticed that now, when I see this type of post, I get a little aggro over it.
I don't know if it cracks my top 3 yet, but it's definitely worth mentioning.


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