AIBU to think that people who post on a thread without reading the OP are arrogant?

[Tankersome]

... as are those who post on a multi-page thread without at least reading the OP's updates.

Not a thread about a thread BUT definitely inspired by my frustration over years of posting on here (under various names) where I've seen this happen.

Sooooooo many posters will not take the time to either read and comprehend an OP but decide to post their opinion anyway (based on what they simply believe the OP to be about). Or they will come on to a ten-page thread and post something in direct response to the initial post, not even bothering to use their common sense and realise that it's quite likely the conversation has moved on a bit.

Fair enough, people don't have the time to read loads and loads of posts. But why the hell would you take the time to respond in the first place when you haven't at least read what the OP has posted???

Absolutely drives me bonkers how arrogant some people can be. They will speak their opinion regardless of whether or not it is relevant.

It would be useful if the 'show OP' option at the top of multi-page had the parameters widened to show all of the OP's postings on the thread.

Seriously annoying.

With the data breach the last few days you had people after hundreds of posts dropping in and saying 'I'm concerned about this (on page 1) of dozens of pages and already answered and 'MN should do this' already suggested numerous times.

Arrogant twats.

Sometimes I wish you could just read the op and their updates without having to scroll through hundreds of bloody replies!

Goodness, Tankersome... do you really talk to people like that in RL and get any kind of desired result? I'd dismiss you as boorish to be honest and that would be that. You're not educating anybody here, you're delivering a lecture. Not the same thing at all.

Anyway, the reason why I posted like a twat on the thread yesterday is because I was doing something else at the same time and didn't read it properly. Sometimes I overly scrutinise but alas, yesterday I barely skimmed, got the wrong end of the stick and sadly ran with it.

I'm cognisant of my own failings there, tried to make amends and I'll do my best to check myself so it doesn't happen again. There are some really nice posters on this board, they have more influence than they realise... and then there are those who just think they do.

I have occasionally read a thread, wanted to comment, posted my comment, only to realise to my embarrassment that the thread already had 16 pages of posts.

Don't expect the software would allow it, but if the "add your message here" box only appeared on the last page, at least it'd be rammed in your face that there were several hundred posts before yours.

toffee that isn't "missing the point", it's simply the poster's answer to the OP's question.
Agreement with the OP is not a requirement, and any OP who posts only for validation must be very arrogant/naive/immature. News flash: people have differing life experiences and attitudes.

Exactly MereDintofPandiculation

I'm not sure that ' arrogant' is precisely the word I'd use for the posters who haven't the OP and any updates properly, let alone the full thread, more 'a bit dim'.

I'm perfectly serious about a basic reading comprehension test as part of the signing up process! And I'm creeping close to all new accounts being monitored for the first three months.

And is there any way a 'member since (year)' tag could appear by our usernames? I've been happy to stick with this one for several years now but advanced search wouldn't show anything from before about 2014 I think, whereas under old names I've been here for about 11 years.

On longer threads I tend to read the first page or two, jump to the end and backfill to see what direction it's developed in. I agree that an easier method of following OP's updates would be useful. It's not uncommon to have about 3 useful updates across 15 or so pages, and that is a lot of superfluous posts to skim over just to concentrate on OP's contributions.

It definitely wouldn't solve the problem of people making themselves look daft by asking or providing completely irrelevant information from what was clearly stated in the very first post because they just didn't read it properly.

Oh dear. I sometimes do not read OPs if they are long. What I will do is skip to the first post because often it will sum up the main point in a sentence or two.

For example, the OP might be two A4 sides long, skip to the first post and it'll say "so what has happened is..."

And if not the first post, then within the first couple there is often a quick recap, anyway.

JAPAB what is the point of MN if you don’t even read the OP? honestly i think that’s just silly! if i click on a thread and the op is really long and i don’t have time, i click back and read something different...

the posts that annoy me are useless ones. for example: how do you like your steak cooked? at least one or more poster replies ‘not at all. i’m vegetarian’ what is the point of replying then?!

Sometimes the thread title poses a question and you just want to answer that. Or sometimes it is clear that the thread is on a general topic. Or sometimes you skip to the end and an entirely seperate and self-contained sub-strand of dicussion has developed, and you wish to comment on that.

But yes you should probably read the whole OP if directly going to comment on it, and especially if people are going to be judgey.

CheesyToast that’s not what I meant. If a thread is asking if anyone finds being single soul-destroying, surely that implies they want sympathy from others in the same situation? It’s a bit off to post “oh no I love being single”.

I don't think it's off at all. It's an honest answer to a question. If a poster wants sympathy, AIBU is a very foolish place to post. Some posters are so deep in self pity that it is nauseating, however.

I don’t agree with that at all as Scotland is much nicer than Bognor.

I have to agree as it seems to happen more and more on mn these days.

Op clearly states the problem/ question.
1st fee posts ask questions clearly obvious in op.
4th poster misreads the whole post.
Sevetsl posters read op and reply appropriately whether they agree or not its relevant.
Op updates.
Cue pages and pages of posters who have not read any of ops posts properly and dish out irrelevant info, more stupid questions or jump on op for something they didnt do.
Posters explain they are wrong/Rtft.
They then get pissed off when op or someone pulls them up on it and blame op cos 5hey.

Arghhhh bloody phone.

Cos they cant bloody read!

And yes this must apply to normal conversations too as surely reading a piece of txt is not harder than talking/listening to someone 2 feet away from you?

Scuse typos stupid phone jumped and posted before i checked it.

It IS arrogant because they are assuming they know things they couldn't possibly because THEY DIDN'T READ THE OP PROPERLY.

I've had it happen on threads I've started.

Eg I'm looking for a solution to X but have tried Y and it wasn't suitable.

Simple you'd think yea? No

Cue several posters "have you tried Y" well if you had READ THE OP you'd know YES I have and it didn't work!

Bad enough not to read updates but to not even read the op? Lazy and arrogant.

Maybe we COULD have deletions of at least the posts where the ONLY thing in the post is eg

Do you have DC?

When the answer was IN THE OP!

With deletion message

"Asked a question to which the answer is IN THE OP"

The thing that stuns me is many posters that do this shit claim to have a higher education! How the fuck do they pass exams?

First thing I was taught even at GCSE level was READ THE QUESTION PROPERLY first.

Yes I know this isn't an exam but out of courtesy to the op, most op's AREN'T massively long or hard to read so it really isn't difficult to read it properly.