A PUBLIC SERVICE REQUEST FOR ALL DU'ERs

Hello fellow patriot DU brothers and sisters. Please forgive me but I had a really long goddamn day and need to rant quickly about something that I consider to be a problem on DU far too often. The following message is for anyone who needs to think about it. I will keep the message short:

IF YOU ARE GOING TO REPLY TO A THREAD, PLEASE READ THE WHOLE FRIGGIN OP FIRST! PLEASE!

All the time I see replies that are so short sighted to what the OP's intent was, which causes them to be completely unrelated or off the mark to what a reply to the OP should've actually been. This many times can cause flamewars and misunderstandings that could've been avoided completely just by reading the damn OP fully and taking a second to ponder it.

Why the rant? Because this thread below made me cry when I read it. Then I saw 2 replies in there that made it seem they didn't read the OP at all. I am touched by this thread, so in this instance it really struck a nerve.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1095153&mesg_id=1095153

:rant:

been guilty of not reading an entire OP, too. I think they'll be forgiven.

But you should have just posted your "IF YOU ARE GOING TO..." sentence in the subject line. What makes you think your intended audience will get to the second paragraph?

:evilgrin:

on edit: The posts that led you to bring this up are sort of embarrassing, now that I've had a chance to look over there.

:hug:

Uh, oh, . . . never mind.

The insensitivity is amazing at times. :(

I agree that happens a lot, but I've seen it many a times by valid DU'ers who just simply want to reply quickly rather than with context. Or maybe it's an impulse thing of rushing to judgment, where they just read one line and assume what the rest would be about. But it's that rushing to judgment that is one of the biggest root causes of animosity that we see run rampant here at times. I think it would be a huge service to the DU community if more people read fully, pondered the intent, and then replied. Sighhhh

about that moronic "utility bills" reply? :mad: That was inane and so insensitive.

they didn't read the post at all, just the headline.

I'm with you on this one. :-(

:kick:

n/t

:( - I can see where people sometime misinterpret due to skimming or selective reading, but that post was of an extremely sensitive nature - pretty inexcusable there :(

Jesus, one lady was yapping about utility bills!! That was fucked up.

Expanded view*, in case you haven't tried it ,
allows DU users to view just the subject lines of all posters.

We should all be careful as well that our subject lines are indicative of
our posts because someone viewing by this method will first notice only that.
It's a quicky way to browse through the gist of each discussion.



* Hint - Go to GD, look on the upper left side for the expand button.

When I read that thread I noticed that I had two posters already on ignore.
Some weeks I use that button a lot and I see that my ignoring spree of a couple days ago
spared me some grief.

I say use that button at the first hint of wrongness then give em' all an amnesty
every once in a while. I clear my ignore list every six months or so
and give anyone on it who has not been banned by then a second chance.
Most of the "ignored" are long gone from the board by the time I get there.

:kick:

It's always good to open your mind before you open your mouth, so to speak.

Good call.

There's too much noise everywhere already.

Maybe that's what you were referring to?

The headline mentioned winter turning into spring, but it was a metaphor involving the OP's illness and mortality.

Apparently, the poster only read the headline and commented on the high utility bills she'd have to pay during winter, clearly missing the body of the OP's message wherein she mentioned her illness. I seriously doubt it was intentional on the poster's part, but it did make for an uncomfortable and insensitive post.

it belongs in the lounge.

OPERATIONMINDCRIME has a point pretty much most of us would do well to heed. I admit to posting much too quickly on occasion, racing through an OP in a hurry to have MY say! :eyes:

I've been pretty lucky, but thank you for the reminder.

In a hurry, in a fury, we can embarrass ourselves or unintentionally start fights.