Wednesday, August 22, 2007

THURSDAY THIRTEEN . . . 13 INTERNET PET PEEVES . . . Don't act like I'm the only one. Everyone has them, right? The following are some of my pet peeves when it comes to the internet.

1) Sites chocked so full of ads, graphics, photos and the like, they take forever to upload/download . . . Hey, give me a break, you know what I'm trying to say *smile* (In case you didn't know, not all of us have, want or can afford high speed internet).

2) Religious chain letters that attempt to blackmail you into salvation. You know, the "if you don't send this to 33 people in the next 33 minutes, 33 of your teeth are gonna rot" or some other such nonsense. (Does salvation made by way of threat or under duress really even count?)

3) The Nigerian Chain Letter (Come on, Dr. Josc, Mr. Abdoul and all the rest of y'all. Do you really think I was born yesterday? There is no 22.5 million dollars and I am not your dear friend. So, get a new hustle and stop freaking emailing me.

4) Dead, Broken or Unworkable Links (Okay, I must confess--I too have been guilty of this. )

5) Bloggers who respond to everyone's comments except yours. (Dag, it's like that, huh? Well, I'll just take my jacks and go play somewhere else.)

6) People who "reply" to "all" by email when they really only intend for one specific person to see the message. ( May you all be sentenced to an Email 101 Refresher Course.)

7) Pop-ups that sneak by your pop-up blocker. (Grrr!)

8) People who expect you to respond promptly to their emails, but refuse to extend you the same courtesy. (That's all right Mom. What goes around, comes around. Just kidding*smile*).

9) Huge links that take forever to download. (Really, sometimes smaller is better . . . ).

10) Sites with hideous color combinations--like pink on black, or black on purple . . . (Dag, I'm blind enough as it is. Pretty soon I'm gonna have to start wearing my 3D movie glasses everytime I sit down in front of the screen).

11) Bloggers who take themselves way too seriously. (Lighten up and laugh sometimes, why don'tcha? Life is way too short).

12) Forwarded emails, letters, poems, warnings purportedly penned by some authority figure, government official, slave master or Maya Angelou. (Stop the madness people).

13) Folks who pull/fish your name from a group email in order to send you advertising material and/or spam. (Class, can you say, "Tacky?!" Thank you class.)

Okay, did I miss any? Are there others you'd like to mention? Go ahead and vent, why don'tcha? I just did.

***A FEW LATE ADDITIONS***When you finish here, hop over to Artventuring and check out Michelle's "13 Life Frustrations We All Share." Also, Malcolm posted a list of "13 Films That Spawned Short-Lived Series" on his blog Pop Culture Dish.

16 comments:

Michelle said...

Great list! I'd just add: Forwarded emails which take 15 minutes to scroll down to the message, because they've come with every single name of every single person it was ever sent to before your "friend" sent it to you. (Come on folks, don't you know how to use the delete key?)

Lori said...

Michelle,
Even though I am guilty of this, you are SO right! (smile) The delete key is there for a reason. I really should use it a bit more often.

Holly said...

RE #3, I just watched a special on MSNBC (or something) about those. I swear people are STUPID! This one guy sent them over $250,000! $150,000 of which was the county's money (he was a county treasurer). DUH!

#5- I hate that!

#11 - Yep, with you there, too.

This was a great list!

Oh, I'll add one...

People who comment with the express purpose of pimping their own site/blog. If you can't be bothered to at least read my post and say something prevalent, don't bother! (i.e. Hey, great post. Come visit my site) Ugh.

Happy TT, anyway. :P

E.R. Carpenter said...

Good list Lori. I have a few myself.

1. Websites that provide your personal, unlisted information, including your age, address, and phone number.

2. Satelite websites that provide views of any address. (If you told someone you live in a mansion, they can view the building from above and see that it's just a one bedroom apartment.)

I call the first two stalker tools but they can also be used as employment discrimination tools (especially age discriminiation). I purposely did not name the sites as to not spread this invasion of privacy.

3. Obvious spam that tries to be too clever just to get through by purposely mispelling words "Pen1s" enlargement.

4. Phishers. No you're not from Paypal, Chase, or any other financial institution so please stop trying to get to my money.

5. Anonymous Messageboard Posters. Everybody is big and bad behind a keyboard when his or her name is Voodoo98 or something. Let's see you talk that talk when we find out your real name Urkel.

Take care,

Emanuel

Lori said...

Hey Holly,
Thanks for stopping by and adding your comments to "The Mix." Yes, it's hard to figure those folks who fall for the "I've got 22.5 million sitting in the bank and I need your help" scam. (LOL) I'll pay your spot a visit in a bit (smile).

Lori said...

Hey Emanuel,
Amen to all of those! And thanks for not naming those sites (smile).
My hubby was showing my folks how he could pull up their house on the net . . . It totally freaked them out.

Again, thanks for all of the great additions.

Malcolm said...

Chain and forwarded emails are the worst. When I get them, they usually go straight to the circular cyber file.

Ehav Ever said...

I agree with Emanuel on the one about people being big and bad when their name is not shown. The Anonymous person who leaves an extremely negative comment without leaving their name.

People who get angry and want to argue when something is simply your opinion. As if disagreeing is an international federal crime.

People who want to bad mouth someone on an email, and drag other people into by including other people on a BCC.

People who have such good content that you end up spending time at work, time at home, and time where you should be sleeping reading their site. Darn those people with such good content. (smile)

Lori said...

Hey Malcolm,
I don't mind some forwards--especially the funny ones. But I hear ya!

Lori said...

Hey Ehav E.
I'm pretty sure I've never posted anonymously. Not really my style. But in certain instances, I can understand why others might choose to do so.

Typically, I try to avoid the hostitle and the overly senstive when it comes to blogs and bloggers (smile). But even amongst friends and family members, differences of opinion are going to happen.

Dragging others into a squabble via email? Well, that's just fighting dirty (LOL)!

I would have never put "good content" in the category of a "pet peeve" . . . But you know, you just might be right--especially if it keeps you from "taking care of business" on the job or at home.

Appreciate your comments.

Anonymous said...

I hate e-mails with photos of so-called missing children. The photo gets circulated for so long that the child is probably 35 by the time I see it.

Lori said...

Sharon J.,
Good one! (LOL) A friend sprung a "new" one on me just the other day. Get this--pictures of two little kids in a casket . . .
no caption . . . no explanation . . .no rhyme . . . no reason . . .

I don't know if sistergirl is going through something or what! But somethings, you just need to think twice about or better yet, keep to yourself. (shudder)

E.R. Carpenter said...

And let's not forget about viruses. What is the mentality behind a person who creates an electronic virus and/or spreads it to a group of perfect strangers? How do you get satisfaction from that?

Okay one more. Poorly written job descriptions on job sites. I was reading one the other day, and the title had "Specialist" in it. As I drill down to the description it was described as "Entry-Level Only." This might be a stupid question but how could an entry-level employee possibly be a specialist?

While we're on this subject, I think everyone needs to know that ANYTHING you do online using the network at your job can be read by your employers. This includes reading your non-company e-mails, checking your browsing history, and reading your blog posts by using Spyware, so be careful what you write. (I spend four years with a software company.)

One more tip. Try to use multiple Internet passwords. Otherwise, hackers at one company can try your password on other sites (like your e-mail accounts) and get way more information you care to share.

Take care,

Emanuel

Anonymous said...

But don't the Nigerian chain letters always start out like they might know you? I even had an email supposedly from Britain that claimed that a relative with my last name had passed on and wanted me to have the money. I questioned whether that relative knew I was black. :)

Did you ever see them bust the Nigerians on 20/20? They actually responded to the emails and had the people fly out to meet them for the money. It was funny-funny!

Lori said...

Emanuel,
Keep this up and we'll all be too afraid to venture any where near our computers (smile).

Trenee,
Tell me about it. Those letter writers come at you with some of everything. My favorite is the "How Come I Haven't Heard From You?" line . . . to which I'm always tempted to respond "Because I'm Not A D@#n Idiot . . . "

Yes, I've seen bits and pieces of some of the news profile segments. I guess as long as there are people who actually believe they can get something for nothing those kinds of scams will be around.

Ehav Ever said...

I know a guy who fell for the Nigerian thing. He was born in Israel and has been living in the US for about 20 or so years. He says that he fell for it because he had never heard of the scam before. I think he fell for it because he was looking for a quick buck and because of it he did not really think clearly on what the email was claiming. He had to change all of his accounts because of it.