Jump to content

Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)


Banshee

Recommended Posts

I tend to mentally translate "chips" as "fries" on this forum (it's based in Bristol, after all), even when the person posting is not from the UK -- unless they're from the US.  Even some Americans tend to go all "British" on here, though.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter and I always laugh at the 'sharing bags' of sweets...

Yeah, that'll be right-

don't even try and share mine!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgive me , I don't understand.  What's the difference between "chips" and "fries"?? These are linguistics subtleties I don't quite understand. I thought those two words meant the same thing in English 😅 ( I have so much still to learn...!!) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Jen said:

Forgive me , I don't understand.  What's the difference between "chips" and "fries"?? These are linguistics subtleties I don't quite understand. I thought those two words meant the same thing in English 😅 ( I have so much still to learn...!!) 

"Fries" (aka "French fries") is the American word for these:

88e1c2ad1c9101a502bd26a14fecc9a8.png

While "chips" is the British word.

"Chips" is the American word for these:

48c64e2c9b3de903a02d16385b0cdfcf.jpg

While "crisps" is the British word.

As I understand it, anyway.

 

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Artemis said:

"Fries" (aka "French fries") is the American word for these:

88e1c2ad1c9101a502bd26a14fecc9a8.png

While "chips" is the British word.

"Chips" is the American word for these:

48c64e2c9b3de903a02d16385b0cdfcf.jpg

While "crisps" is the British word.

As I understand it, anyway.

 

Thank you for the explanation, Artemis!! I'll try to remember that !! 😅

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find Amazon-customer reviews very helpful, and have also appreciated a number of the comments left on those reviews by other customers.  But a few days ago, I noticed that not only are there no longer any comments to be seen, there's no button to click for posting a comment -- on either the US or the UK site.  So Amazon now shares one frustrating "feature" with many other review venues, namely if a reviewer has misinterpreted something or could benefit from a different product, etc., there is absolutely no way to tell them -- or, perhaps more to the point, to tell other customers who read the review.  One can, of course, post a new review, but a lot of products have so many reviews that the chances of someone seeing both the original review and any responses to it are slim indeed.

This is merely the latest in a series of review features that Amazon has been quietly removing.   :(

Added:  This online article [here] shows the comment button, pre-removal.  According to Amazon [here] it was removed this past December because "the comments feature on customer reviews was rarely used."  I suspect there's more to it than that, because I recall there being comments on a fair percentage of reviews.  Of course some of them were kinda gratuitous, but many were helpful or interesting.  R.I.P.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even if it were “rarely used” (which is definitely not true), is that really good cause to remove the option?  More options is good.  Removing features is not helpful to the user experience and rarely the solution to a problem.  You do want to keep your design clean, but in most cases the removal of a feature does not accomplish that goal and is done for another (sometimes more nefarious) reason entirely.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Artemis said:

Even if it were “rarely used” (which is definitely not true), is that really good cause to remove the option?  More options is good,  Removing features is not helpful to the user experience and rarely the solution to a problem.  You do want to keep your design clean, but in most cases the removal of a feature does not accomplish that goal and is done for another (sometimes more nefarious) reason entirely.

Right, I think "rarely used" was just an excuse.

Amazon reads each review before letting it go live, but they weren't doing that with comments.  'Spammers had recently  discovered that loophole, and were posting blatant promotional material very thinly disguised as comments -- I reported quite a number of those myself.  If Amazon wanted to pre-read all the comments as well as the reviews, they would have needed to hire more people.  Plus it's possible that the comment system hadn't been designed with vetting in mind, and might have needed a complete overhaul.  So they just said phooey on it.

Can't say as I blame them (if it would have been a major chore), but I do miss the comment feature.  I also miss the ability to request notification when somebody comments on my review -- though of course that's no longer relevant.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just in case you didn't know, there are sites like https://reviewmeta.com/ that filter out spammers, review bombers and the like. I've found that site quite helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Caya said:

there are sites like https://reviewmeta.com/ that filter out spammers, review bombers and the like.

I've never really been inconvenienced by that sort of thing, perhaps because I don't tend to frequent sites that they target.  Dealing with their Amazon "comments" was no particular problem; all I had to do was click a button to report them as abuse.

Maybe Amazon should have gotten reviewmeta to help modify their site instead of cancelling the comments altogether!  Though come to think of it, if that was indeed the problem, it seems a bit odd that they would claim "rarely used" instead of stating the actual problem.

On 1/30/2021 at 3:25 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

According to Amazon [here] it was removed this past December because "the comments feature on customer reviews was rarely used." 

I just noticed that the page brought up by that link is actually a forum thread, quoting an email that Amazon sent out to its "marketplace sellers."  And boy are they steamed!  It seems that those comments were the only way they could respond to reviews from customers who think the product is faulty, often because they apparently don't understand how it's supposed to be used or don't understand the directions or whatever -- which is obviously a fair number, if you check the 1-star reviews for anything that needs assembly, for example.

I remember one irate review for an exercise bike, which claimed that the product was horribly defective -- the threading for attaching the pedals was clockwise on one and counter-clockwise on the other.  Fortunately for me, someone had already posted a comment pointing out that if they were threaded the same way, one of them would unscrew itself every time she pedaled the bike.  That's the sort of thing they've been dealing with all along, and now they have no way to respond. (And neither do I.)

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I've never really been inconvenienced by that sort of thing, perhaps because I don't tend to frequent sites that they target.  Dealing with their Amazon "comments" was no particular problem; all I had to do was click a button to report them as abuse.

Maybe Amazon should have gotten reviewmeta to help modify their site instead of cancelling the comments altogether!  Though come to think of it, if that was indeed the problem, it seems a bit odd that they would claim "rarely used" instead of stating the actual problem.

I just noticed that the page brought up by that link is actually a forum thread, quoting an email that Amazon sent out to its "marketplace sellers."  And boy are they steamed!  It seems that those comments were the only way they could respond to reviews from customers who think the product is faulty, often because they apparently don't understand how it's supposed to be used or don't understand the directions or whatever -- which is obviously a fair number, if you check the 1-star reviews for anything that needs assembly, for example.

I remember one irate review for an exercise bike, which claimed that the product was horribly defective -- the threading for attaching the pedals was clockwise on one and counter-clockwise on the other.  Fortunately for me, someone had already posted a comment pointing out that if they were threaded the same way, one of them would unscrew itself every time she pedaled the bike.  That's the sort of thing they've been dealing with all along, and now they have no way to respond. (And neither do I.)

 

Sorry for laughing Carol, I see your point and it would annoy me as well but that bicycle story is pretty funny! 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, T.o.b.y said:

Sorry for laughing Carol, I see your point and it would annoy me as well but that bicycle story is pretty funny! 


Oh, no problem -- I thought it was funny too!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/1/2021 at 2:17 PM, T.o.b.y said:

Imagine Sherlock being presented with a "complaint" like that! 😂 

Oh you know he would, lol.  People would be asking his help for the dumbest things, and he’d either slam the door in everyone’s faces, leave John to deal with it, or have his own version of “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

I was on a Sherlock Holmes kick for about a year when I was 11 or 12, and I actually started a fanfic around this idea; the only one I ever started, lol.  It was about a woman, a fugitive from the law herself (though falsely accused, “Richard Brook” style; she had her own kind of Moriarty).  Sherlock Holmes kept turning down cases that he considered boring or beneath his abilities, and she would anonymously solve them for people.  Gradually he started reading in the paper about cases being solved before he even heard about them, cases he actually did want to work on.  Business slowed down as people stopped coming to him, and it was driving him crazy.  For the first time he found himself in the position of having to vie for business, which required being polite (i.e. not a smart-ass) in the face of idiocy, and other nasty peopley things that made him uncomfortable, lol.  Eventually he determined to find out who was stealing his business.  At the same time, he was approached by her Moriarty (a wealthy public figure, viewed by the public as a very good person), with the task of catching her; not knowing, yet, that the two mysteries were connected by the same person.  And one thing leads to another.

My username on this forum is actually an homage to that fanfic, lol.  It’s the name of her character.  (One of them, anyway.)

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Artemis said:

I was on a Sherlock Holmes kick for about a year when I was 11 or 12, and I actually started a fanfic around this idea; the only one I ever started, lol.  It was about a woman, a fugitive from the law herself (though falsely accused, “Richard Brooks” style; she had her own kind of Moriarty).  Sherlock Holmes kept turning down cases that he considered boring or beneath his abilities, and she would anonymously solve them for people.  Gradually he started reading in the paper about cases being solved before he even heard about them, cases he actually did want to work on.  Business slowed down as people stopped coming to him, and it was driving him crazy.  For the first time he found himself in the position of having to vie for business, which required being polite (i.e. not a smart-ass) in the face of idiocy and other nasty things that made him uncomfortable, lol.  Eventually he determined to find out who was stealing his business.  At the same time, he was approached by her Moriarty (a wealthy public figure, viewed by the public as a very good person), with the task of catching her; not knowing, yet, that the two mysteries were connected by the same person.


I would seriously read that!
 

5 hours ago, Artemis said:

My username on this forum is actually an homage to that fanfic, lol.  It’s the name of her character.  (One of them, anyway.)


Aha!  I'd wondered why you picked that name (other than whatever it was you said in the "Stories behind your User Name" thread).

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oops, wait a minute -- here's what you said before:

On 1/28/2017 at 4:45 AM, Artemis said:

I was sorting through an old bin of papers I saved from my childhood, and I came upon a forgotten outline for a Holmes story I had written.  (I never actually wrote out any of my stories, I just enjoyed coming up with ideas, lol.)  Must've been sometime in middle school.  It featured a character named Artemis (not her "real" name, but an alias).  It was funny reading it again, and as far as I remember it's the only Sherlockian thing I ever wrote, so I decided to make it my username.


So much for my memory!

Well, OK then, I'd enjoy seeing that outline.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I would seriously read that!

Thanks!  :happy:

7 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Well, OK then, I'd enjoy seeing that outline.

That was the one story I actually did start writing out (in more than outline form), but I've never found any of those papers.  They are probably lost to time.  The outline is still pretty detailed, but it's a bummer to have lost the dialogue, because that would be the hardest part to rewrite (if I were ever inclined to do such a thing).

Someday I should make a project of typing up what I have.  I'll think about sharing it with you if I do, but fair warning: I am super shy about my writing and usually too embarrassed to share it, so no guarantees, lol.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Who's Online   0 Members, 0 Anonymous, 34 Guests (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of UseWe have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.Privacy PolicyGuidelines.