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Your #1 tech-related pet peeve?
- Thread starter iBreatheApple
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Let's not do this. Yes, it's an exaggerated expression. I am fairly certain 100% of the people in this forum understand. If we're acting morally superior, why does something so silly that has no affect on your life cause you mild irritation?
Morally superior? Not sure how you managed to shoehorn morals into what I wrote. I merely noted that one of my bugbears is exaggerated overstatement, and you provided an excellent example. Ok, maybe not tech-related, but such statements appear on forums as much as anywhere.
"The iPhone could not be synced because this computer is no longer authorized for purchased items that are on this iPhone"
I'm firmly in the camp of when you ask somebody to go to a website, they'll type it into a google search or something. My job involves remote connecting to systems, and 90% of the people I talk to will reply with 'oh, I've got loads of options up'. Type it into the ****ing top bar, that's what it's there for.
Not only that, but the majority of those systems are full of malware that they installed, so it searches in Delta Search or Babylon. They quickly get frustrated and tell me 'it isn't working correctly.' Once they finally realise where the top bar is (yes, that's the damn bar above all your toolbars, where you type in 'www.'), they'll then reply with 'oh, it's working now'. As if, you know, it wasn't working before.
Dealing with this bullcrap multiple times on a daily basis absolutely drives me up the wall.
Not only that, but the majority of those systems are full of malware that they installed, so it searches in Delta Search or Babylon. They quickly get frustrated and tell me 'it isn't working correctly.' Once they finally realise where the top bar is (yes, that's the damn bar above all your toolbars, where you type in 'www.'), they'll then reply with 'oh, it's working now'. As if, you know, it wasn't working before.
Dealing with this bullcrap multiple times on a daily basis absolutely drives me up the wall.
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It's a SIM card, not a simms card. Not to be confused with an SD card. Which is not a chip.
People who claim their phones act on their own free will, especially when they mess up. "I didn't do anything, it just started X." They also fail to mention it was dropped, repaired by their 10 yr old neighbor, dropped in the toilet and run over by a car right before said 'free will' event.
People who expect to be taught everything and who refuse to gain any knowledge on their own. It's called Google. Search for it. Preferably via Google.
Parents...
I could go on for days...
People who claim their phones act on their own free will, especially when they mess up. "I didn't do anything, it just started X." They also fail to mention it was dropped, repaired by their 10 yr old neighbor, dropped in the toilet and run over by a car right before said 'free will' event.
People who expect to be taught everything and who refuse to gain any knowledge on their own. It's called Google. Search for it. Preferably via Google.
Parents...
I could go on for days...
I think this is the reason browsers started combining the address and search bar into one.
I am shocked when I tell someone to go to macrumors.com that they will go to google then type macrumors.com into google, then click macrumors from the search results.
I am shocked when I tell someone to go to macrumors.com that they will go to google then type macrumors.com into google, then click macrumors from the search results.
Yep, I still see it happen, even with the combined search/URL. They'll go to Google and then search for the www. website. Unbelievable.
Other times I'll ask them what web browser they're using. 'Google', they'd say. Naturally, once I'm connected, I'd see internet Explorer with the Google homepage on it.
It's not so much the fact that they're computer illiterate that annoys me. It's the fact they get angry and blame their ignorance on me.
Parents...
Any tech related christmas presents for your parents by any chance? Gave my mother my mba....
.....no emergency calls so far.
And mind: she just started using a
Always lots of smileys when quoting Tilpots..smileys, a pet peeve of mine I'm really guilty at.
I am shocked ever day that they don't push for more computer literate people to fill most of our positions. For the most part all they need to know is how to use a web browser and Cisco VPN client for 90% of the work now. Thanks to oracle we work mostly out of the browser. No more MS Access database, no more installing countless programs that need constant updates and training for end users, yet they can't figure out how to use a browser.
Oh boy, don't even get me started.
My #2 gripe is when people have loads of malware installed, after clicking crappy ads or not learning to untick options in installations. Their reply? "You installed antivirus before it was delivered to me, obviously that program isn't good enough."
It's difficult to explain that antivirus can't prevent stupidity, and can't prevent you from installing programs. I don't want to start ranting about this one either because I won't be able to stop
Not only that, but when they have downloaded something like Firefox and can't figure out where the damn login applet file downloaded to. "I clicked 'Start Download'", they'd moan, "but nothing happened."
Then I'd have to figure out the browser they're using, and help them navigate to where their downloads folder is. "yeah, see that big ****ing downwards arrow? Click that and that'll show your downloads. Now double-click the file that just downloaded."
And yet, AND YET, they can easily find the downloaded file when they've downloaded some **** like 'Speed Up My PC' or 'RegClean Pro' and need to install it. Yep, they could find a way to install that crap using nothing but a '90s text-based Linux distro, but ask them to run a downloaded file and I'm speaking pure jargon.
.....no emergency calls so far.
(Snip)
Always lots of smileys when quoting Tilpots..smileys, a pet peeve of mine I'm really guilty at.
She probably hasn't taken it out of the box yet. Just wait for it!
And yes, my friend, I'm guilty of this
way too often too. 
- That battery technology hasn't really advanced in over 2 decades. And to make it worse, we've somehow reached a state where 6hrs of battery usage on a high-end smartphone is considered good enough because having a Quad Core CPU/GPU is more important.
- Websites that are infested with click-bait ads. The ones where if you so much as breathe whilst on the site an ad pops up, and when you click x to close another ad follows etc.
- Being the go-to tech guy in my circle.
- Websites that are infested with click-bait ads. The ones where if you so much as breathe whilst on the site an ad pops up, and when you click x to close another ad follows etc.
- Being the go-to tech guy in my circle.
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Gosh. This thread is something of an eye-opener. What an extravagant outpouring of incandescent, steaming, venting.........
Actually, I am reminded of something, a paltry few lines once penned by the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon, when he observed "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury....signifying nothing."
However, this thread does prompt two questions - and one observation - from me.
Firstly, do any of the venting posters (and yes, I realise that this is a tech thread, and that tech aware people can experience insane frustration at the clear inability of less tech literate types to grasp the Way Things Should Be, in much the same way that I think those those who mindlessly murder the English language daily in speech, prose, texts, and posts should suffer Most Horribly) ever dream of a career where they might serve to offer instruction or enlightenment to those less gifted with technical understanding?
In other words, do you dream of introducing the joys of technological awareness to the technically illiterate, and feel that mad thrill of having successfully flicked the 'On' switch in the place in a student skull where the attic marked 'The Unknown' resides?
My second question is to ask whether the act of articulating (or ranting, or venting) is conducive to tranquillity or whether it inspires deep dark desires to do worse? In other words, does venting ease the frustration or add to it?
And to conclude with an observation.
The development of computing, the internet and all of the forms of social media which have grown out of this are an utterly transformational revolution in how we communicate, conduct relationships, interact, search out information and so on. It is not an exaggeration to view these changes as something which will have world wide historical effects on a par with the invention of the printing press (and paper), or the Industrial Revolution; those of us who recall the world of even twenty years ago will readily concede that the transformation has been cosmic in its scale.
However, such a transformation means that most who are caught up in it will merely seek to master as much as they need to know to get by; for most, the bar they wish to reach is basic competence, not mastery. Meanwhile, true masters, or high priests, of the new technological arts affect to despise those who lack the esoteric knowledge which - by its very nature - is still in the process of being developed, explored and understood, even by those at the cutting edge of new learning.
In an earlier incarnation, I used to be a teacher. And I loved it. I loved the idea of turning on a switch in a student head - or, better still, - persuading him or her of the sheer - and yes, savage - that quite exhilarating pleasure of wanting to flick it on for themselves.
Those ominous tales from the dawn of many of our civilisations, first oral, later committed to writing, stories such as the Garden of Eden, the Promethean Fire, and countless others, caution about mere humanity wanting to learn why things are the way they are, how things work, (and why), while daring humanity to defy the gods (and obscurantist high priests) by seeking answers to barely articulated and asked questions.
Risking divine retribution is one thing; risking the sneers of those better endowed with knowledge is quite another, and, to my mind, somewhat unfair.
Why not, instead, view such ignorance as an opportunity to teach those who lack such knowledge? None of us were born knowing these things. Someone, somewhere, had to teach us, preferably in a way that made us wish to learn more about it all.......
One thing I dislike on the tech front, is when a person complains about their computer system, crashing or being too slow. You look at what the have, and it’s system out of the last century, running Windows XP (which has never had an update)
Then they get all upset because you recommend, throwing it away and buying a completly new system.
Then they get all upset because you recommend, throwing it away and buying a completly new system.
Thanks for reminding me of another peeve: changing the font on web forums. It disturbs the flow of the thread and I usually don't bother reading more than a sentence or two.
Michael
Has anyone mentioned the fact that the word "search" has been replaced with the word "Google"? I really hate that.
- ads with video and audio, especially the self starting ones.
- anything video in news sites instead of articles. I want to read what i am interested in, with the possibility of quickly scanning for the bits I am looking for (or just to see if I am interested at all), i do not want to video, especially when they are sprung on me
- suspense titles in news sites, instead of descriptive titles (like in huffington post). it annoys me to no end an it usually makes me leave the site altogether, at least for some time
- anything video in news sites instead of articles. I want to read what i am interested in, with the possibility of quickly scanning for the bits I am looking for (or just to see if I am interested at all), i do not want to video, especially when they are sprung on me
- suspense titles in news sites, instead of descriptive titles (like in huffington post). it annoys me to no end an it usually makes me leave the site altogether, at least for some time
"Waiting for changes to be applied... Forever"
This happens so much on iOS 7. I can can mess around and uncheck settings and restart the phone and reboot the Mac and nothing works. Until I randomly try a day or two later.It's progressed quite substantially, IMO. Is it where I'd like it to be? No. But you have to think that with each new devices comes a more powerful processor, a bigger screen, more features that eat resources, et cetera. If you could throw an iPhone battery on one of those old blue Nokia, I bet that puppy would last for weeks.
People who don't use a download manager and then lament the 8gb download that restarts after reaching 99% completed...
Dude what year is it? Don't all the major browsers resume downloads now? Last time I saw a download manager I think it was running on Windows 98.
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Any app which, when it has finished doing something that takes a while (starting up, saving a large file, applying a filter, rendering, whatever) pops up some message that brings that app to the front. The number of times I've started typing into a chat or code window and finished typing into a "you're missing a font that this document needs" window from another app is amazing.