I Complain

Know what I really hate? People who contribute to online forums with nothing of value to offer other than the "sound" of their own ridiculous voice. Even worse are the people who try to e-argue with them.

I realized my hatred for this a few weeks ago when I was reading an article on Yahoo! sports. The blogger had written about something that baseball players do called "the hip bump" and why he thinks it should be banned. I've never seen this phenom, but he included pictures in his article to show how ridiculous the action was. He comically explained his position and I laughed my ass off, which was the intended effect of the article. That is, if you have a sense of humor.

Of course, we know that there are folks out there who just like to be a killjoy because, well, why not? The first few responses to the article were normal, people who said that they found the article funny and that they agree with him. Then there were some people who said that the hip bump wasn't too bad, although there were people who did it wrong, and yet they still laughed at his article.

Then there were those who were super upset, as though they were close friends with the aforementioned baseball players who partook in the hip bump, and let the writer know how much they hated him for having an opinion on a light-hearted subject. Some of my favorite complaints include:
-"must've been a slow day at the office for this to pass as news." (it wasn't news...it was a sports blog...idiot)
-"you have nothing better to do than pick on something as mundane as a hip bump, which is just a way for players to celebrate..." (that's what blogs do...explore the mundane...)
-"wow, was that your attempt at being funny? because I missed it" (that's because you're a tool)
-"why are you picking on the athletes? why can't they celebrate a victory or a good play?" (he didn't say they couldn't celebrate...he just suggested other ways to do so...go back and reread the article, gooftroop)

I know it seems like I'm defending the writer hardcore, but it just bothers me when people don't think before they post something. It's like they just read what they want and then scroll straight down to the "post comment" button and start spewing crap from their keyboard.

This happens more notoriously on the music blogs on Yahoo! There is this one music blogger, whose name escapes me, who inspires the wrath in hardcore music fans everywhere. Whenever this particular blogger composes a list (that's his thing...he makes random music lists), 90% of the responses he gets are negative comments from people whose favorite bands weren't included. "How could you not include so-and-so?? You don't know what you're talking about!" is the usual sentiment. I don't think these people understand that his opinion isn't their opinion and if they are so interested in people knowing their opinion, they should write their own blog. But judging how most of them compose their simple little responses, I don't think the public is ready for paragraphs of their hieroglyphic typing.

Just recently he composed a blog list that was pure research, no opinion involved. He put together a list of the greatest albums of all time using actual numbers of record sales, grammy nods, and some other things I can't remember. Even this wasn't enough to appease the masses. They'd quickly scroll through the list, having not read the exhausting explanation he took the time to type out, notice that their band is either not there or in the position which is favorable to them, and proceed to comment on how terrible the blogger is and how this list was clearly his opinion because their favorite band was missing...

Please, please, please explain that logic to me.

This list was clearly his opinion because their favorite band was missing...

Suddenly everyone is an expert.

Now, I'm not saying that people shouldn't have an opinion...it would just be nice to see an opinion with some logic behind it every now and then. It would be nice to see that people cared enough about the article to actually read it, understand it, and then respond intelligently to it. I mean, I know a sports blog about the hip bump isn't exactly a scholarly discussion, but if you feel like the blog didn't appeal to you, just close it out and find something else. It really is that simple, folks.

Oh, and e-arguing? It's stupid. Don't do it.