Category: the Rant Board
I just left one of the most irritating QN sessions I've experienced to date. Basically, there were a couple of people who were really, really going out of their way to be obnoxious and rude. I admit to being a little bit older than most people here, so I'm admittedly slow on the uptake sometimes, but could someone please explain to me how outright rudeness can be considered entertaining? Back in the dark ages, when I was a channel operator on IRC, I'd think nothing of booting rude and crass people. With QN, they can just go ona nd on with impunity. Speaking for myself, I sure don't enjoy seeing that.
Well that is every day life here on the zone. And that is where the ignore button comes into handy, or just toggle off quick notes.
BB
Face it old man, your over 40. Don't try to understand how all this new fangled technology and the new world works, just go drink your geritol and take advil for your arthritus.
That's life. I mean, that's how people are and how the world works in general. Like life, there are nice people, and not so nice people. If you don't like someone, either tell them to fuck off, or of course, use the ignore button.
First, fuck you roman beetle musk, you've hit a nerve there. Jeritol indeed: Jack Daniels works much better.
Second, kl1964, take my word for it, life on the zone is much more pleasant with quick notes turned off, at least it is for me. But, if you choose to leave them on, don't come complaining to us about what you read. Take the advice of someone older than you, turn the damned things off, and enjoy the zone.
Bob
Cala so poinent...then again can leave notes on, not ignore the rudders and simply get on with gettin' on... Sometimes though the crap that is heard...Chicka sugar you would not believe it! *Then again you might...By the way tell *Paul* I said "Hi!" smile
KL1964, turn public qn's off and get to know a few people privately and then just talk to them, play the games, and read the boards, etc. I turn publics on, and if I don't like the public qn conversation going on at any particular time, I toggle them back off and try again later. Don't make enemies on the site by ranting about something you actually do have some control over.
Absolutely I'd some zoner complaining to me about having QN's off, saying they couldn't talk to me. They obviously hoping to use QN's to abuse me. ...honestly the sleekitness of some people
I agree with Becky.
Troy
Hi kl1964,
I'll start by saying i'm in total agreement with you 100 percent in everything you said. I don't bother mudch with qn's anymore, because if i have private qn's on, most people are usually multitasking when they start a qn session with me, and since i'm usually just talking to th eperson, it's often very oring and monotonousjust sitting there long minute afte minute waiting for the response of a multitasker, ande since qns are as you say, well what you said, I find it better if i just come on here long enough to post to the boards, then just get out of here. The zone works for me as long as i don't stay here too long at a time.The things you mention are absolutely right, and make something that would ordinarily be a nice feature in to a disagreeable chat nightmare. Nice to see an older person on here. I'm 47, nice to meet you.
wonderwoman
Thanks, Wonderwoman. I do like the concept of QN's. In theory, they're a quick and dirty way to introduce yourself to people. It would seem, however, that some people do emphasize the dirty more than quick. <G> I guess what I don't get is that I always go out of my way to be respectful to others, and why people not only choose but seem to revel in being disrespectful is a hard concept for me to grasp. Maybe someone can explain that one to me?
KL1964: You seem like a reasonably intelligent person, judging from your posts and QN's, so surely you realize that it's not just here on the Zone that this happens. There are always going to be people who want to get a reaction by being obnoxious, and as long as you give them that reaction, they're not going to stop. In some cases, even if you give them no reaction at all, they're still not going to stop. The ignore feature, and turning off public QN's are my only suggestions to you. Either that, or just deal with it and let it be something to ponder while you're trying to fall asleep at night. As for why they do it when you're always respectful, again, something to ponder. This is the Internet, and people tend to feel safer sitting in front of their computers, so of course they're going to be a bit more abrasive than you'd expect from real life encounters. And I'm rambling now, so I'll shut up. Best of luck, and I hope you won't let your annoyance/frustration discourage you from coming here.
kl1964, we both think alike and wonder the same thing. I've often thought qn's would be much better if we had the choice of being able to add people to our qn list. You know, have it set up so we could add people to our qn list, and only those would be able to qn us. I think though when something like this was similarly suggested, there was the comments that it would preoritize the zone, and people would gather in cliques, lol, a joke, since they do that already. I think tht would make qn's much more enjoyable, but unfortunately, not enough people think like me, and besides, a great feature like that would probably be a premium feature anyway, but it seems a wonderful idea to me.
wonderwoman
Hi Wonder Woman. Doesn't the ignore feature already in effect do what you want? If you ignore anyone you don't want to talk to, then the only people left are people you would like to talk to. This seems to me like a much better way of doing things anyway. If you had to specifically add people to a list in order to quick note you, then you'd never be in contact with new zone users, and you could potentially miss out on meeting some really cool and interesting people.
Some people have nothing better to do with their time, is all, but I suggest turning publics off. Just type a slash followed by togqn in the edit field and bam! there you go.
Hope that helps.
Jess.
I agree with DHS Darcy on this one, Wonderwoman. I have met some very nice people in recent months, and if I had been able to make a list of people whom I wanted to be able to qn me earlier, I never would have met these new people.
Erm, so just use the private QN feature? I mean, if you had a list of people you wanted to talk to, aside from the already mentioned drawback of not being able to communicate with new users (one of which is the creator of this board), they wouldn't be public QN's. It would defeat the purpose, IMO. Just keep clickin' that ignore link, and all will be well. :)
The way I see it, there are some folks who are amused by getting a rise out of others, and since it's the internet and you're just typing words and they're just typing words back, nobody really gets hurt by their estimation. Since we're all pretty much anonymous and all, there's a lot we can get away with that we could not in real face-to-face conversations. It may not be right or ideal, but it's just how some folks tend to operate and all we can do is hope it blows up in their face one day.
Everybody's pretty much said it for ya. Just put whoever you don't want to hear from on ignore. lol be greatful that we even have an ignore feature. Some sites wouldn't even add in that kind of filter. This is the main and best thing you can do, to save us all from these types of rants. People come onto this site for many many reasons. Some among others include just playing the games, reading the boards, or posting on grafiti.
We try as best we can, on this site, to give you some semblence of real life. However, while we do try this, we do have limits on what we'll allow. Read the terms of service for more info there. However, most of what's posted on quicknotes, is acceptible, even if it may be obscene. however, if someone is openly posting racist remarks, or advocating the illegal use of substances, then they will most likely be disciplined. Especially if you notify one of us about it.
Take care, and welcome to the site!
I wrote the message that started this thread on Tuesday, and since then (thanks in large part to the postings herein) I've adusted my opinion somewhat. Yes indeed, the ignore feature is a good thing, and I have put it to good use. Alkso, if a certain conversation is somewhat annoying and/or raises the blood pressure, there's always /togqn. It is indeed a fact that cultural norma regarding civility have changed somewhat in the past ten or fifteen years, and no amount of banging my head against the wall will change that. In the final analysis, there's really no reason why, it's just the way it is. The vast majority of folks are still decent sorts who aren't out to cause anybody any harm, and those that are or seem to be probably aren't worth losing any sleep over. thanks for the partial education of this curmudgeon. <G>
Hey Kl1964 and Wonderwoman good posts. Wow, I actually am glad you did do this little rant, it is neat to know what others opinions are. I agree with much of what has been said, not only about the ignore feature, which I"ve not used yet but have thought of sometimes. Also though, I agree with the fact that this is a good way to meet others, as Becky and others say if I'd not had publics on I'd not have got back in touch with you and others that I've not talked to in ten years. I guess it all goes both ways. Speaking of age, I too am glad to see that I'm not the oldest on here.
Lelia
Curmudgeon? Wow.
There are situations in real life where I'm just as irritating and abrasive as I am in public qn. to me, the internet is a part of my life, not a place I can do things differently because it's not real. I am me, I'm caring respectful and understanding to my friends, and not to many others. if you don't like me, ignore me, I really don't care. but then, the orchestrator of this board already has, so he wont see what I've had to say. lol
grrr, I just love finding I'm not logged in just when i'm about to post a long through response, lol. Anyway, I took a day or two to respond to dhs darcy's question, so i could give what may sound like an intelligent post. That's what I like about email messages or message boards as opposed to live conversations where your response has to be quick, with these, i can take my time, think about what i'm going to say and how i'm going to say it. In that way, I can make myself sound more intelligent than what i am, lol. Anyway, darcy< yes, the ignore feature does go a good way in doing what i want, but I was starting to get private qn's from teenage boys who just wanted to carry on a bunch of junk which i'm not in to and don't want, so evven private qn's got to be pointless to keep on. What i started doing is, having all qn's off, then when someone I talked to would pm me an dtell me they had qn's on, I'd go in to my account and hunt for the qn combo, then turn private qn's on. Afte we'd finished, i felt no desire whatsoever to keep them on. Private qn's can be tedious if, you are like me, and don't multitask well and just aren't doing anything but talking to the person who started the qn conversation with you. It's just a bit tiresome just sitting there waiting and wondering for minutes on end if the person is going to respond or not. Since turning qn's from private to off and from off to privattte can be a real pain if you do it often, I started leaving qn's on private, then I started getting the junk private qn's so it just wasn't worth having any qn's on at all. If anyone has anything to say to me, he or she can always send me a pm, i still have those on. The way a qn list would work for me is this: I see a person's board posts I'm in total agreement with and sympathize with, I answer most of their board posts, that person answers mine, and we strike up aconversation. In the course of our board conversations, we may discover we have some things in common, or we think a lot alike in most things. So, I have, let's say, my qn list set to only those on my qn list could qn me. The person who responds nicely and understandingly to my board posts is added to my qn list. In this way, I build my qn list up gradually, slowly. Granted, I may only have about 4 or 5 at the most, since I think so differently from most people that I don't have a lot in commmon with anyone very much. I keep qn's off, and having that kind of list to start with would be like having them al off until I had gotten them built up a bit. In my opiniion, Nikos is the best qn conversationalist, because neither of us multitask much, so to me, he's a wonderful qn conversationalist, but we have each other on windows messenger now, so don't need qns.
Anyway, that's how it would work for me.
wonderwoman
Well, to an extent, I'm still banging my head against that wall. <G> I was talking with Lelia tonight via PM. We had known each other back int he days of Internet Relay Chat, ten years ago. Those were fun times, with a small number of us gathering most every day to chat, we had trivia on Saturday nights, and it was just fun. And very limited drama. Nobody had to shout or draw attention to themselves, and if they did they'd be summarily bounced. But that, as has been pointed out earlier in this thread, was a different day and time. I'm getting a picture of the QN free-for-all, and in my mind's eye it's a big room with a bunch of people milling around. Some see no problem, revel in fact, in drawing attention to themselves, others think they are terribly amusing, still others hang back in the corners. It certainly is not the optimal setting for someone like me, someone who is painfully shy and very reserved. That doesn't mean it's wrong, it's just the way it is. I came here thinking I had found a community akin to the days of IRC or, on a smaller scale, the Global Blind Exchange. I wasn't completely wrong, but I wasn't completely right, either. The reality falls somewhere in between. People react differently now than they used to ten years ago, and that's just the way it is. So I'm going to hang around, but I'm probably going to give much more weight to the boards and the games than QN's.
Sounds like a very wise decision to me. I refer you to post 7 above from buckeyed fan.
When you said "I'm getting a picture of the QN free-for-all, and in my mind's eye it's a
big room with a bunch of people milling around. Some see no problem, revel in fact, in drawing attention to themselves, others think they are terribly
amusing, still others hang back in the corners."
I guess we all have our own picture of the zone in real space. Mine is of a big house that we all live in, with the games being the game room, the boards (well, maybe several rooms kitchen, living room, etc.), and the qns being the play room where the kids play.
I, as one of the old farts (kermudgin indeed) just stay the heck out of the kids play room.
However, the zone is just bits and bytes, an idea, a concept; a bunch of people (most of them blind) trying to get out of the real world for a while: and I love it kids room and all.
Anyway, just felt reflective this morning and thought I'd share my thoughts.
Bob
I'm pretty happy just posting in the boards and sending the occasional private mail to somebody. I've got all QN's turned off.
Kl, again you got it friend, this is definitely not irc of old, and oh man as I said to you before, I truly miss those days!!! But guess we gotta roll with the times somewhat eh?
I like your picture, to me too its like a big party where every one has a choice where they can go. Or what they can do, the only difference in this party is if we want we can ignore folk lol!!!
Lelia
Thanks wonderwoman.
I am glad you think i am a good qn conversationalist. Very interesting word. I never heard the word conversationalist before so it was something new for my vocabulary.
And i liked the post from Bob saying that zone is like a house and publick quicknotes are the playground lol.
You have a very good perspective bob. If they ever get such a feature as I mentioned, then private qn's would be worth turning back on, but if not, I don't see myself using qn's anyways too soon. Someone would have to have an emergency situationand need to talk to me desperately before i would turn them back on, but I can't see any situation being that desperate. Nikos, glad I could teach you a new word. Kl, I'm curious, which network on mirc did you use to be on? I have mirc, use mirc with speech, but it's hard to find too many good people to talk to on there anymore. what I don't enjoy is when someone comes in to a room or channel, and you're talking to them and they just stop responding, mostly because they're in to omany channels to be interested or care. I started trying to talk in at least 2 or 3 channels, because if i was only in one channel, I'd get so bored when the person i was talking was in several active channels i wasn't familiar with, or had been in once, and they were so foul i didn't go back again. There is a beginners channel on dalnet, and some of th epeople are ok sometimes, but they have an idle rule, which I don't blame them, but instead of encouraging the idlers to talk to them, they'd say, and the idler award goes to ... hasn't said a word in 120 minutes. they seem to forget you're there, but they sure enough remember you're there when it comes time to ban you for idling. I always ask how long th eidle limit is, not because i'm one of those idlers who don't respond to people when spoken to, indeed, i love to talk, but i tend not to talk much while others are talking, because they're usually in to their own thing, and talking abiout their personal life history in a way that indicates they've known each other for years, and there some of us are, who don't know anyone, and we have no one to talk to outside the cliquish ops, or people who are just in their own world and seem oblivious of anyone else. I mean, some people in there are friendly, but a few of th eops aren't and it seems like there are one set of rules for ops, and a different set for anyone else. Deepspace is alright, and i go there sometimes, but there are all those rooms, and people are in them, but noone talks anywhere except the lobby, and either noone is taking at all, or there is too much, and it floods jaws. Incase you aren't blind, jaws is a screen reading program we use to read things on the screen. It's tedious when you go in a r oom, and there seem to be 12 or more people, but they're either away from the computer or just don't want to talk. That's why i d on't go on mirc that much, but you know how things that seem a bit bothersome aren't that bothering if you don't go to th eplaces very often. That's how it is for me on mirc. If i go in a channel, and get ignored, I leave and try that same channel in about another month or 2. Chat just isn't what it use to be anymore, and there's more cliques and competition nowadays than there is good friendly cozy chat, so I move around a lot, go from one place to another.
wonderwoman