Forum menu
... why do people feel the need to apologise when starting a thread?
I see it quite often on here. Is there some "thou shalt not start new threads" commandment that I've missed, or some sort of question-asking embargo?
I think as a nation, we apologise too much. We're standing still in a supermarket and someone bumps into us, and [i]we [/i]apologise, rather than doing what we actually should be doing which is saying "look where you're going you ****less git, maybe if you pulled your attention away from your phone for three seconds you might be able to pass through this world without being an ignorant pain in the ring to everyone else in it."
Are you really, truly sorry for starting a thread? Then don't do it any more, it's not for you. If you're not sorry, MTFU and stop apologising insincerely for your continued existence.
*goes for a lie down*
A sorry excuse for a rant.
If I'm guilty of this, I am truly sorry, it won't happen again.
Some people feel bad about wasting other people's time.
You clearly don't though.
😉
I prefer the "LISTEN TO ME YOU BUNCH OF ****S!!!!" approach meself, like
I think as a nation, we apologise too much.
Come to Germany, you'll really start to miss that 🙁
RealMan - Memberhttp://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sorry-reccommend-me-a-phone
Sorry.
STOP IT!!
🙂
Come to Germany, you'll really start to miss that
It's about finding balance, I think.
I made a conscious effort a couple of years ago to get rid of the reactive apology (the situations where you say "sorry" when what you really mean is "c--t"). I've found "excuse me" to be a far better gambit.
While we're off the subject, why do people use 'OT' on the chat forum? It's a forum about everything - nothing is off topic. Stop doing it, it annoys me loads. If you are or have been guilty of this, by all means say sorry.
Come to Germany, you'll really start to miss that
+1
We have no idea how polite we are here. It seems silly at times...I immediately say "sorry" even if someone's bumped into me. Other people do the same when I bump into them. I'd rather we were like that than wondering "Am I in the wrong?" and then taking the appropriate action.
Long live the reactive sorry.
I'm sorry, but the english are conditioned to be overtly apologetic in all situations, especially those where they absolutely have no reason to apologise... I feel I should apologise for the behaviour of my fellow englishmen and women.
My Brazilian wife thinks we're very odd in this respect 🙂
I apologise profusely for this.
why do people use 'OT' on the chat forum?
I think it's wholly appropriate if they want to start a thread about bikes.
I'd rather we were like that than wondering "Am I in the wrong?" and then taking the appropriate action.
That's why "excuse me" is so great. It can easily be interpreted to mean "I'm terribly sorry, old bean" or "you're standing where I wanted to walk, get out of the goddamn way you droplet" and by the time the other party's worked out which one you meant you're well outside minimum safe distance.
what if the thread is to 'chat' about bikes?
We have no idea how polite we are here. It seems silly at times...I immediately say "sorry" even if someone's bumped into me. Other people do the same when I bump into them.
Agreed, but curiously being "on the internet" seems to disable this nice national trait.
you're standing where I wanted to walk, get out of the goddamn way you droplet
I never really think that way anyway.
so many threads go missing anyway because this website is too shonky
I'm sorry but I disagree with your view.
[img] 
[/img]
Come home molgrips.
not as bad as threads that......
...don't give you any idea of the content unless you look at them.
like:
is this bad?
will this work?
advice needed
help choosing
is this fair?
what would you do?
etc etc.
TJ used to be terribly polite. Then he moved north of the border. Just look what's happened. Simply frightful! 😉
... why do people feel the need to apologise when starting a thread?
Because people used to get a lot of grief for asking perfectly reasonable questions. Asking any advice about tyres would result in a torrent of abuse, either about how boring a question it was, about how often it had been asked or whether the questioner knew how to operate the forum's search facility. So people started apologising in advance when asking for advice about tyres and asking other questions that are common and relevant to mountain biking.
It snowballed from there.
not as bad as threads that.........don't give you any idea of the content unless you look at them.
I'd agree with that, TBH. This one was sort of intentional. And I'm not wholly serious, in case it's not obvious.
Because people used to get a lot of grief for asking perfectly reasonable questions.
That makes sense, though I'd perhaps suggest that the problem is with the abuser rather than the abusee.
Though to be fair, if you're apologising because you know a question has been asked before and you're going to get told to use the search, why not use the search?
If you have, perhaps the thing to say is "I've used the search but this is a little different / couldn't find anything," no? Nothing to apologise for unless you know you're doing something wrong.
why not use the search
Because the search is shit, sorry 😛
Saying 'sorry' when someone bumps into you is mainly sarcastic in a way you can get away with - that's the way I see it 🙂
I think there was a time when attempting to use the search was a good way to get the forum to crash.
Besides, you are for some reason assuming that the abuse levelled at these unfortunate posters was actually rational. If you said you'd searched but not found anything suitable then you'd be told that you weren't any good at searching. Then 3 people would post "Conti Vert Pros" with no explanation or reasoning, someone would post that picture of a rabbit with a pancake on his head and Dan (or was it Beer?) would post a very unpleasant link and try to fool people into clicking on it.
The next person to start a thread asking about tyres would then get a slew of replies linking to the previous thread and telling them to use the search...