Finishing a post with your username at the bottom

Guybrush · 18 Dec 2006 at 14:13

Scuzi said:
What annoys me are the people who start every post with a greeting like "Hi" or "Hello", even if they have already posted in the thread a few times and have addressed the members they are speaking to in the very same thread. You don't say hello to someone every time you speak, i.e:

"Hello sir, how are you?"
"I'm fine, how are you?"
"Hello, I'm good too. Have you been up to much lately?"
"Just the usual, yourself?"
"Hi there, nothing interesting."
"Have you been talking to Finbar?"
"Hi mate, nah I haven't seen him at all."
"I was talking to him the other day, he was asking about you."
"Hello there, really?
"Yes, and stop ****ing greeting me!"
"Hi there, sorry about that."

I'm with you on this.

Signing off with your name is pointless, but beginning each post with 'Hello/Hi there' or similar is just retarded.

ElRazur · 18 Dec 2006 at 14:16

Guybrush said:
I'm with you on this.

Signing off with your name is pointless, but beginning each post with 'Hello/Hi there' or similar is just retarded.

Gibbo is so guilty of this....lol he says Hi mate or Hi there mate....

ElRazur · 18 Dec 2006 at 14:17

iCraig said:
It's how I read your signature too.

Also, what does 'yeap' mean?

I read that as, "yeep", but I don't know if that's right.

No = Nope
Yes = Yeap but with an attitude. :cool:

PinkFloyd · 18 Dec 2006 at 14:30

ElRazur said:
Gibbo is so guilty of this....lol he says Hi mate or Hi there mate....

^^ Yeh lol

Always pay attention to his posts though

Noxis · 18 Dec 2006 at 14:36

MoNkeE said:
For someone who I've always respected for their ability to put forwards a balanced and insightful debate, you've sure made yourself out to be quite the tool in this thread

Now quickly, O' mighty one, you best go and berate all those other people with a view opposing yours now! Fly away, your time is limited!

-RaZ

Unfortunately you end up looking a tool every time you "sign off". Now correct me if I am wrong but unless you log out of the forum, close your browser and shut your machine down every time you post in the forum... you are not signing off? Perhaps it'd be acceptable if you signed the FINAL post in a thread and not every single one.... but you don't.

You are entering into a conversation that's in flow, to extend examples made in this very thread:

Me: Hey how are you? Nox.
Mate: I am fine....
Me: So what you get up to this weekend? Nox.
Mate: Went out, got minced. The usual.
Me: Ah cool, I just painted the kitchen all weekend. Nox.
Mate: Why the &*%^ do you keep saying your name at the end of every sentence?
Me: Dunno, pretentious I guess. Nox.

Just looks stupid, makes people sound stupid and is totally unnecessary. Its a whole attention whore (hope your not in Ipswich

) thing and really makes me grind my teeth every time.

A FORUM POST IS A CONVERSATION NOT A FLAMING FORMAL LETTER OR EMAIL!!! :mad:

Spyhop · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:20

lol i will reply to this topic and sign it lol

-wush

fini · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:29

Noxis said:
A FORUM POST IS A CONVERSATION NOT A FLAMING FORMAL LETTER OR EMAIL!!!

So, what you're advocating is the removal of, not only sigs, but usernames at the left-hand side as well. I ask because others have claimed that sign off should not occur because they are repeating information that is already present in that particular post. Your argument is for the existence of that information at all and, as such, would see the removal of usernames to the left as well...

fini

Jofujofu · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:34

Noxis said:
Just looks stupid, makes people sound stupid and is totally unnecessary. Its a whole attention whore (hope your not in Ipswich ) thing and really makes me grind my teeth every time.

A FORUM POST IS A CONVERSATION NOT A FLAMING FORMAL LETTER OR EMAIL!!!

How is it attention seeking? I really don't understand that. Whether it's necessary or not, I doubt people are seeking attention when they put their name at the bottom.

I think it's totally a matter of personal taste. Some people do it, some don't. Some like it, some hate it to a worrying degree. At the end of the day it doesn't matter!

Paul

platypus · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:35

fini said:
So, what you're advocating is the removal of, not only sigs, but usernames at the left-hand side as well. I ask because others have claimed that sign off should not occur because they are repeating information that is already present in that particular post. Your argument is for the existence of that information at all and, as such, would see the removal of usernames to the left as well...

fini

I'd sure be for removal of sigs

Angus-Higgins · 18 Dec 2006 at 15:57

Noxis said:
A FORUM POST IS A CONVERSATION NOT A FLAMING FORMAL LETTER OR EMAIL!!!

I do not wish to argue, but I think this is wrong to an extent. A forum is a means of communication which is not a conversation. If you want a conversation go on IM, or IRC; those are instant, and are much more conversation-like. A forum is more of a message board type of communication; if you post something it could be days for an answer, or you may get no answer at all.

If you had a conversation with someone and asked them a question they didn't know, you would expect an answer of "I don't know" or similar, on a forum you would probably get no answer.

A forum is much more formal (in my opinion) than a conversation.

I can't understand why 13 characters (in my case) of text would annoy people so much. Why don't people just ignore the text? This might save others who sign off their posts from being offended. I personally feel offended by many of the posts in this thread, and feel that many of the comments made have been unnecessary, as the amount of text used is small.

I personally like to read the column of text on a forum, and therefore I don't read everyone's particular username, therefore it is easier to distinguish who is saying what if people sign off posts. I am not suggesting by any means that we should all sign off, but I am saying that I have yet to see a good reason for not having a few characters to sign off.

The main arguments have been:

1. Increased storage/bandwidth.
2. Waste of space.
3. Waste of time.
4. More reading.

My responses:

1. An extremely small percentage of the total bandwidth of a message. An avatar that is 3000+ bytes dwarfs 13 bytes of text, or less.
2. One line?
3. Not your concern, I don't mind typing for an extra 2 second or less.
4. Don't read it, also, how long does it take to read 13 characters, or less?

Overall I can't see a problem. I have a few benefits, but they are personal opinions so I will not share them as it will just increase the length of this pointless argument.

I suggest people become more tolerant of extremely small things like this or they will find it hard in the outside world. How can you complain about this miniscule eccentricity when there are things you definitely have to put up with, without an argument, in the outside world that are much, much worse?

I don't understand how people can complain about 13 characters or less, it seems stupid to me.

Angus Higgins

Jofujofu · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:34

Agree 100% with Angus Higgins!

Paul

Ken · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:38

Something so trivial has received 6 pages of response. Why would something equally trivial in real life not get the same attention?

Stelly · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:38

Jokester said:
I've only ever made one post where I didn't put my name at the bottom, I felt naked without it .

Jokester

I thought that I was weird for thinking that... I feel so complete now

... I did it once and had to edit most post lol

Stelly

Sp00n · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:39

Ken said:
Something so trivial has received 6 pages of response. Why would something equally trivial in real life not get the same attention?

Because this is the internet and everything gets blown out of proportion, standard procedure.

I still think its pointless, thats all i have to say on the matter.

Ripper · 18 Dec 2006 at 16:40

i dont find it annoying, but i dont see the need for it

For example there's one guy on the boards, cant think of his username, but everytime he does a post, "Thanks Luke" is at the bottom. I'm guessing his name is luke, either that or he just really likes thanking Luke.

ElRazur · 18 Dec 2006 at 17:05

Ripper^ said:
i dont find it annoying, but i dont see the need for it

For example there's one guy on the boards, cant think of his username, but everytime he does a post, "Thanks Luke" is at the bottom. I'm guessing his name is luke, either that or he just really likes thanking Luke.

Lol. I think i know who you are talking about. He is a newbie and always finish his sentence with "Cheers Ian"

dirtydog · 18 Dec 2006 at 17:12

ElRazur said:
Lol. I think i know who you are talking about. He is a newbie and always finish his sentence with "Cheers Ian"

You mean ian flowers?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=7591631#post7591631

Thankfully he's packed it in these days, probably realising how silly it was :cool:

Van Hellseek · 18 Dec 2006 at 17:14

Ripper^ said:
i dont find it annoying, but i dont see the need for it

For example there's one guy on the boards, cant think of his username, but everytime he does a post, "Thanks Luke" is at the bottom. I'm guessing his name is luke, either that or he just really likes thanking Luke.

mrdbristol did that too. he used thank some guy called mark after each of his posts. looks like he's kicked the habit lately though.

cheers seek

Augmented · 18 Dec 2006 at 17:25

Angus-Higgins said:
1. An extremely small percentage of the total bandwidth of a message. An avatar that is 3000+ bytes dwarfs 13 bytes of text, or less.

Ah, but you forget the benefit of caching. Most people will already have the avatar cached from reading other threads. Or, at the least, the bandwidth usage from the avatar is shared between all the people who use it. 1000 views, and you're generating a whole 13,000 bytes of extra bandwidth by adding your name to the end of the post! Frankly, I find that to be quite shocking; I may need a lie down.

Kind Regards,
Mary.

Angus-Higgins · 18 Dec 2006 at 17:58

Augmented said:
you're generating a whole 13,000 bytes of extra bandwidth by adding your name to the end of the post! Frankly, I find that to be quite shocking; I may need a lie down.

Kind Regards,
Mary.

Think about the amount of text regarding the number of characters in a post. If we say that a post could be about 500 characters (a bit high, but not massive), then 13 characters (a lot for signing off text) is only 2.6%. Longer posts will have over 2000 characters, so there will be even less of a percentage.

If one creates a thread like this one, tens of thousands of characters will have been typed (needlessly in my opinion), with very few of these characters used as signatures. This thread counter balances well over 1000 of my signing off text, as it is "useful", and my signing off text is "useless" in your opinion I am sure.

Also, I doubt anyone will worry about 13000 bytes of bandwidth, when the website is as large as this one. How can so many people complain about such a small amount of bandwidth.

According to you, the post is the useful part, and the signing off text is not useful; most of the time one uses a very small percentage of the post to sign off, the number of bytes used to sign off could probably be counter balanced by a few extra examples or descriptions.

For instance, if there is a person "a", and a person "b". Person "a" signs off their posts with a 20 character piece of text, person "b" does not.

Person "a":

"I saw a Ferrari today -20 CharactersOfText" - 42 characters

Person "b":

"I saw a red Ferrari Enzo at the office today" - 44 characters

This is a crude example but it does show that it takes very little extra in even an extremely small post to counter balance the signing off text of another user. This shows that the bandwidth is hardly an issue. (Also this uses the 20 characters of text which is the upper limit I would expect for signing off text.)

Angus Higgins