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

[Artemis]

Boys who tickle you and won't stop when you say no.

 

I can get a little violent in response, it's a reflex.  In high school they started calling me "Hellbat", and not for no reason.

 

 

[Pseudonym]

The only person who used to tickle me mercilessly was my brother, who abruptly stopped when I hit a certain age. 

[Artemis]

People like to invade my personal space for some reason.  They think it's funny until I almost break their fingers, or elbow them in their soft places.

 

It really is a reflex, I'm not a violent person, lol.

 

 

[Pseudonym]

Sounds deserved in my opinion. I hate people close to me or touching me, I'm also known to be pretty blunt so barking out "you're too close!" to my friends is not unknown. Getting caught in thick crowds where there are people pressing in on all sides really freaks me out.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Guys who take you out and then "encourage" you to get drunk ("Aw, come on, have a drink!"), then get irked if you prefer to just have some sparkling water with a twist. How transparent can they get?

[Pseudonym]

I don't think that's ever happened to me I'm glad to say! 

 

Anyone else a bit depressed by Valentine's Day? I'm happily single, and even when I haven't been I wasn't a fan of Valentine's Day, but it's still a bit depressing when it's forced on you everywhere. 

[Fantasy Lover]

Not depressed, more annoyed. I've been hearing cheesy love songs the whole day!

[Pseudonym]

Ah, I've been shut away in work so I haven't reached the point of overload - I just keep getting things coming up on my dash and special offers emailed though.  :(

[Arcadia]

I forgot it was Valentine's Day. But I bought a heart-shaped cake for my mom the other day, now we get to eat it! :D Wish I'd remembered flowers for her though. But if I don't say anything, she won't remember it's V-Day either, so I'm probably safe. XD

[Pseudonym]

She won't question the heart-shaped cake?

 

@ Fantasy Lover - forgot to ask, did you have to see the bloke who was harassing you today? 

 

Gah, the unit next door have put BBC Radio One on, which I hate, and they have this horrible segment this time of the day where people call in, sing discordantly about the fact they're going home, and then they edit them all together over really irritating music. Makes me grind my teeth. 

 

I did come across this, which cheered me up a bit. 

 

[Fantasy Lover]

He was only harassing me in the weekend, but I didn't see him thankfully.

[Arcadia]

She won't question the heart-shaped cake?

 

Yes, that is the flaw in my scheme. But I'm saving it until dinner, when the day will be mostly over. And then I have to run off and teach a class. So she'll have forgotten again before I get back home. Short term memory loss has its advantages. :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

Definitely!  (At least when it's not your short-term memory that's losing.)

 

Guys who take you out and then "encourage" you to get drunk ("Aw, come on, have a drink!"), then get irked if you prefer to just have some sparkling water with a twist. How transparent can they get?

 

I don't think that's ever happened to me I'm glad to say!

 

Only happened to me once, thank goodness, and that was decades ago.  But it still irks me if I happen to think of it.

[Surelock]

I don't mean to offend anyone but why do girls sound like guys on online forums? Whenever I join forums, I'm always surprised to find how many users I initially believed were guys are actually girls. 

[Pseudonym]

I find it the other way around, people I think are girls are guys. I think it's because places like this in most of the threads it doesn't much matter what we are. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I don't mean to offend anyone but why do girls sound like guys on online forums? Whenever I join forums, I'm always surprised to find how many users I initially believed were guys are actually girls. 

 

That's interesting.  What is it that makes you think they're guys?

 

I've had that experience a few times, and I think those were either because they had a masculine screen name, or because the avatar photo was some man that I didn't recognize, so I assumed it was the actual forum member.  I've also been fooled in the other direction, probably just as many times.  Usually if I read a person's posts for a while, their gender becomes fairly obvious, partly from the things they say and partly from the way they phrase them.

 

That said, it seems odd how many members don't specify their gender in their profile -- even some people who have made it quite clear by their comments that they are one or the other.  It's not that it makes much difference to me personally -- just that I don't know which pronouns to use if I don't know whether they're a "he" or a "she."

[Surelock]

 

I don't mean to offend anyone but why do girls sound like guys on online forums? Whenever I join forums, I'm always surprised to find how many users I initially believed were guys are actually girls. 

 

That's interesting.  What is it that makes you think they're guys?

 

I've had that experience a few times, and I think those were either because they had a masculine screen name, or because the avatar photo was some man that I didn't recognize, so I assumed it was the actual forum member.  I've also been fooled in the other direction, probably just as many times.  Usually if I read a person's posts for a while, their gender becomes fairly obvious, partly from the things they say and partly from the way they phrase them.

 

That said, it seems odd how many members don't specify their gender in their profile -- even some people who have made it quite clear by their comments that they are one or the other.  It's not that it makes much difference to me personally -- just that I don't know which pronouns to use if I don't know whether they're a "he" or a "she."

 

Yeah it's usually because of their avatar or username. 

 

I thought Pseudonym and Fantasy Lover were both boys until I read their posts on the previous page. Pseudonym has a guy in his avatar and as for Fantasy Lover, well most fantasy lovers I know are male so I guess I just made that connection when I read her username.

 

I usually can't tell a user's gender from their posts. Usually I have to wait until a user identifies their gender. What kind of signs do you look for in a person's posts to identify their genders? 

 

I think a lot of my gender misidentification stems from my own lifestyle. To put it simply I'm a fairly antisocial boy who barely talks to girls (kind of like Sherlock ;) ). I talk to girls on online forums a lot more than I do in my real life. In my real life, I usually only talk to other guys so I guess I've developed a habit of assuming that everyone I'm talking to is male.

 

As for why some users don't specify their genders online, I guess there are a variety of reasons. A lot of women, for example, can get harassed a lot online depending on which forum they're on. I can understand if they would like to keep their gender anonymous when first joining a forum. As for why guys keep their genders anonymous? I don't know. Maybe they just like being mysterious?

[Pseudonym]

I think a lot of people assume they are talking to people of the same gender whether they are or not, I don't know why, it's just natural I guess. I don't particularly keep my gender hidden anywhere, if I'm getting harassed on a forum I can just leave it.  

[Fantasy Lover]

I thought Pseudonym and Fantasy Lover were both boys until I read their posts on the previous page. Pseudonym has a guy in his avatar and as for Fantasy Lover, well most fantasy lovers I know are male so I guess I just made that connection when I read her username.

 

I usually can't tell a user's gender from their posts. Usually I have to wait until a user identifies their gender. What kind of signs do you look for in a person's posts to identify their genders?

This is the funniest thing I read today XD. You can usually find out the gender of one person on his or her profile.

[Arcadia]

I'm more like Carol ... sometimes I guess boys are girls, sometimes vice versas, sometimes I get it right.
 
On this forum, at least, mostly if they squee, like me, over Benedict Cumberbatch, I assume "girl."  :D If they are more apt to make snarky remarks about the actors ... "boy." Johnlocker: "girl". Adlocker: "boy". Things like that. Otherwise I haven't a clue until they same something obvious to tip me off, such as "I am a 36-year-old-female." That usually clinches it for me. :P

 

I've always put very little info in any profile section of anything, because somewhere I read that's safer, vis a vis identity theft and the like.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah it's usually because of their avatar or username. 

 

I thought Pseudonym and Fantasy Lover were both boys until I read their posts on the previous page. Pseudonym has a guy in his avatar and as for Fantasy Lover, well most fantasy lovers I know are male so I guess I just made that connection when I read her username.

Yeah, Pseud had me fooled for a while too!  But FL started out using a female name, so I was always pretty sure she's a she.

 

Odd what you say about fantasy lovers -- do you mean like Tolkien fans, D&D players, and such?  I would tend to think a fantasy lover would most likely be female, partly because I don't think a guy would tend to use the word "lover" in that context, plus at least half of the Tolkien fans I know are female.  Gamers are different, though -- more likely to be guys, I think.

 

I usually can't tell a user's gender from their posts. Usually I have to wait until a user identifies their gender. What kind of signs do you look for in a person's posts to identify their genders?

 

Other than saying "I'm male" or "I'm female," you mean?  Well, in general, the gals tend to be a bit more -- well, I was gonna say polite, but that implies that the guys are impolite.  Guess I should say, many gals tend to spend more time making sure they won't be misunderstood as saying something inconsiderate.  Some gals tend to go a bit overboard on that sort of thing, and some guys might benefit from lessons (and those are just generalizations), but I can usually understand either "language" just fine.  For one thing, I used to work with mostly men, so I'm used to their way of expressing themselves.

 

I think a lot of my gender misidentification stems from my own lifestyle. To put it simply I'm a fairly antisocial boy who barely talks to girls (kind of like Sherlock ;) ). I talk to girls on online forums a lot more than I do in my real life. In my real life, I usually only talk to other guys so I guess I've developed a habit of assuming that everyone I'm talking to is male.

 

I, on the other hand, tend to assume that nearly everyone on here is female, merely because -- nearly everyone on here is female!  Or at least that used to be the case.  We seem to have an increasing number of males here these days, which is great!  Nice to have more points of view.

 

As for why some users don't specify their genders online, I guess there are a variety of reasons. A lot of women, for example, can get harassed a lot online depending on which forum they're on. I can understand if they would like to keep their gender anonymous when first joining a forum. As for why guys keep their genders anonymous? I don't know. Maybe they just like being mysterious?

 

I wasn't talking about anonymity, though, I meant the people who frequently identify themselves as female or male in posts, but for whatever reason have not clicked the gender button in their profile.  That's one bit of data I'm perfectly happy to supply.  For one thing, I assume it's pretty obvious anyhow (that's a female duck, y'know!), and for another, I don't want people to sprain their tongues figuring out what pronouns to use in referring to me.

 

You can usually find out the gender of one person on his or her profile.

 

You'd be amazed how many people haven't supplied that information -- even though they don't seem to be shy about saying which they are.

 

I've always put very little info in any profile section of anything, because somewhere I read that's safer, vis a vis identity theft and the like.

I'm like that with some things.  I won't give my birthdate.  I hate it when a forum wants your location specified by postal code.  That is just downright invasion of privacy as far as I'm concerned.  I'll say I'm from Indiana, but that's like saying I'm from Portugal -- not too awfully precise.  I won't give my surname either, for obvious reasons.  And most certainly no identification numbers or credit-card numbers.  I am not insane!

 

I can see your point.  But gender just doesn't trigger my warning bells the way it does yours.

[Pseudonym]

I fooled two of you? That's hilarious  :lol:  Is it just because of my avatar or is it the way I 'speak'?

[T.o.b.y]

:-D

 

I don't usually have a specific idea about who has what gender online unless they give me some pretty obvious clues or say so outright.

 

I'm a woman, in case anyone needed to know. Picture Molly with lighter hair and a few extra pounds, also maybe a few years older (how old is Molly supposed to be, anyway?) and you've got yourself a pretty accurate picture.

 

There - does that change the way you read my posts? :-p

[Surelock]

I'm more like Carol ... sometimes I guess boys are girls, sometimes vice versas, sometimes I get it right.

 

On this forum, at least, mostly if they squee, like me, over Benedict Cumberbatch, I assume "girl."  :D If they are more apt to make snarky remarks about the actors ... "boy." Johnlocker: "girl". Adlocker: "boy". Things like that. Otherwise I haven't a clue until they same something obvious to tip me off, such as "I am a 36-year-old-female." That usually clinches it for me. :P

 

I've always put very little info in any profile section of anything, because somewhere I read that's safer, vis a vis identity theft and the like.

 

Your another girl on the forum that I initially believed was a boy until you mentioned you were a girl in one of your posts. Your username and avatar are probably the reason for my mistake.

 

 

Yeah it's usually because of their avatar or username. 

 

I thought Pseudonym and Fantasy Lover were both boys until I read their posts on the previous page. Pseudonym has a guy in his avatar and as for Fantasy Lover, well most fantasy lovers I know are male so I guess I just made that connection when I read her username.

Yeah, Pseud had me fooled for a while too!  But FL started out using a female name, so I was always pretty sure she's a she.

 

Odd what you say about fantasy lovers -- do you mean like Tolkien fans, D&D players, and such?  I would tend to think a fantasy lover would most likely be female, partly because I don't think a guy would tend to use the word "lover" in that context, plus at least half of the Tolkien fans I know are female.  Gamers are different, though -- more likely to be guys, I think.

 

Yeah I'm referring to Tolkien fans, D&D players, Magic the Gathering players etc. 

 

The fantasy that I've seen consists of mostly a male cast of character. I have a habit of thinking that when most of the cast of characters is male then most of the fans should be male as well. Vice versa with a female cast. But hey that isn't always the case.

 

I fooled two of you? That's hilarious  :lol:  Is it just because of my avatar or is it the way I 'speak'?

 

For me, I'd say both.

 

:-D

 

I don't usually have a specific idea about who has what gender online unless they give me some pretty obvious clues or say so outright.

 

I'm a woman, in case anyone needed to know. Picture Molly with lighter hair and a few extra pounds, also maybe a few years older (how old is Molly supposed to be, anyway?) and you've got yourself a pretty accurate picture.

 

There - does that change the way you read my posts? :-p

 

I thought you were a guy. I mean 'Toby' is a guy's name. I always imagined you to look kind of like Molly's ex-boyfriend Tom (as you share the first two letters of your name) but it looks like you're actually more like Molly.

[Arcadia]

I fooled two of you? That's hilarious  :lol:  Is it just because of my avatar or is it the way I 'speak'?

 

Make that three of us, and yeah, I'd say both. Until you started that hot gifs thread... :D

 

Surelock, I just assumed you were a girl because, as Carol mentioned, most of us are! I didn't wonder about it much beyond that, I'm afraid. I'd make a terrible detective.

 

(And I believe the shadow in my avatar is indeed a boy. It ain't me.) (Oh lord, now my secret's out .... no, I am not skinny and short hair-haired, folks ... I am short, though.  )