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Is it new that people expect the forum to read their minds?
yirara
Posts: 9,943 Member
in Debate Club
I'm a bit desperate and wonder if this was the same some 10 years ago. People posting: How do I gain 1kg? Why is my unnamed device off? Does ABC work? Tell me low cal meals. Give me a sports programme.
Nothing else. Just a short sentence. I could probably reply to 5 or so similar threats every day, and considering there aren't so many new threads this IS a lot. What the cat is going on? Do people expect us to know what they're talking about, and why?
Nothing else. Just a short sentence. I could probably reply to 5 or so similar threats every day, and considering there aren't so many new threads this IS a lot. What the cat is going on? Do people expect us to know what they're talking about, and why?
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My personal opinion is that people are treating it like Google. They think "oh, write a couple key words in a sentence and I'll get a list of 1000 results." I think they've gotten so used to Google and Alexa that they don't even really realize it's real people on here in the forum, not AI. I saw a woman throw a fit because her question wasn't answered in 20 minutes5
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I don't know what your *kitten* is doing, Ms. GreenSheep.
When I first started back in 2007, I was in the 5000 members range with my user number. Before cell phones were smart. Maybe 10 new threads daily, total. People were still enamored with facebook.
Then smart phones. Holy crazy questions, Batman. Smart phones changed forums and not in a good way.
I think short questions are a way for people to play around and try out the app. If you notice, most of those OPs never even return to the thread. For that matter, most people who stick around are in specialized groups or threads, or are already in Maintenance.
And yeah, ya can't really answer some of them and/or even figure out what they are asking.
It's okay. Forums are dying.4 -
Not the serious in their endeavor. They are looking for answers that give quick results so they don't have to put the effort into actually researching. I would think that if anyone was really interested in something, they would take SOME time to look into it somewhat seriously. Consequently many of those one line questioners don't even return to see answers.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Humans have always expected other humans to read their minds.
Pre-Internet-technology, it was more like family members expecting us to know someone wanted a hug without them having to tell us every freaking time (or whatever).
Now, all the minds in the world are supposed to be connected, because we have electronic devices in our hands.
When the devices had keyboards, and a higher fraction of adults had taken typing class, the questions were longer. Maybe mostly only the people who knew how to type and felt comfortable writing would participate.
Now most devices are tiny and swype-y, so full typing takes too much time even for typists. And nearly everyone communicates with the devices all the time with family/friends/others in writing, in short text messages, many of which are barely coherent IRL, too.
(I agree with the other theories above, too, BTW.)3 -
I think it’s been happening over the last ten years..
Perhaps it’s just the number of repeat forum chatters are disappearing, which makes it stand out more? It’s like more gnatty commercials, less in depth content.
I also think there is more “noise” out there culturally.. people download an app.. make an account, ask a question and never come back… move on to a different app. Not as much connection.. .. Kind of surface communication.
I’ve been around about 11 years.. in a fit of frustration I deleted my account during the pandemic (for reasons I won’t belabor here..) I came back about a year later. I was happy to see some of the known screen names .. but it also seemed like there were a lot more one off member-photoless threads wanting to know things that could easily researched.
Did we lose the old conversationalists or gain more surface- transient folk? Maybe both? For long timers.. I think I notice more of the loss of the chatty input and dialogue.
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As someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, people tend to write short and sweet. I think it really took off with Twitter with the limited character count. Add live stream chats where you don't have time to write a lot due to fast communication, I think the younger generation has made it a habit to talk this way. Especially as talking to computers (Google, siri, alexa) can at least use a database of similarly asked questions by others to at lease kind of figure out what they may be talking about. I equally find it frustrating. I write stories and ask for feedback online and their feedback is a thumbs up. Imagine writing 300k words and the feed back is a thumbs up.8
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AyameShimitsu wrote: »As someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, people tend to write short and sweet. I think it really took off with Twitter with the limited character count. Add live stream chats where you don't have time to write a lot due to fast communication, I think the younger generation has made it a habit to talk this way. Especially as talking to computers (Google, siri, alexa) can at least use a database of similarly asked questions by others to at lease kind of figure out what they may be talking about. I equally find it frustrating. I write stories and ask for feedback online and their feedback is a thumbs up. Imagine writing 300k words and the feed back is a thumbs up.
💯 This is why I really limited my responses to people on here that ask a question. You respond, and then they either just ignore it or give a one sentence argument back, usually just saying "won't work" or something to that effect. Then don't pay any attention to what you said anyway.3 -
AyameShimitsu wrote: »As someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, people tend to write short and sweet. I think it really took off with Twitter with the limited character count. Add live stream chats where you don't have time to write a lot due to fast communication, I think the younger generation has made it a habit to talk this way. Especially as talking to computers (Google, siri, alexa) can at least use a database of similarly asked questions by others to at lease kind of figure out what they may be talking about. I equally find it frustrating. I write stories and ask for feedback online and their feedback is a thumbs up. Imagine writing 300k words and the feed back is a thumbs up.
I think what annoys me is when people don’t even try to find the answer. They don’t search the forums, don’t look at the stickies and don’t even read the most recent posts. Many of which address the questions being asked. Like “how do I lose weight?” “Why can’t I lose weight?” “Do I have to cut out carbs?” Etc. short and simple questions are fine, but MFP has forums with real people, I’m not AI.6 -
sollyn23l2 wrote: »AyameShimitsu wrote: »As someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, people tend to write short and sweet. I think it really took off with Twitter with the limited character count. Add live stream chats where you don't have time to write a lot due to fast communication, I think the younger generation has made it a habit to talk this way. Especially as talking to computers (Google, siri, alexa) can at least use a database of similarly asked questions by others to at lease kind of figure out what they may be talking about. I equally find it frustrating. I write stories and ask for feedback online and their feedback is a thumbs up. Imagine writing 300k words and the feed back is a thumbs up.
💯 This is why I really limited my responses to people on here that ask a question. You respond, and then they either just ignore it or give a one sentence argument back, usually just saying "won't work" or something to that effect. Then don't pay any attention to what you said anyway.
I have a doc with my common replies to new posters' FAQ. For almost all "Why am I not losing weight?" questions, I ask them to make their diary private. The answer inevitably lies there. I don't want to play 20 questions with someone who is not actually invested in answers.3 -
Also people seem to randomly post on any forem. For example posting on "maintaining weight" with questions about how to start to lose 50 pounds or how to break a plateau....those of us who are in maintenance are essentially trying to keep that hard earned plateau.4
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Also people seem to randomly post on any forem. For example posting on "maintaining weight" with questions about how to start to lose 50 pounds or how to break a plateau....those of us who are in maintenance are essentially trying to keep that hard earned plateau.
In that specific case - loss questions in maintenance section - I've wondered if it is user misunderstanding/error (probable), or intentionally asking people who've gotten through the loss phase successfully, and are now maintaining (possible)?
In some ways, the latter concept would make more sense to me than the common phenomenon here of new or previously-unsuccessful losers wanting to buddy up with others in their same circumstances to motivate, encourage, and help each other.
If my car has a problem, I'd ask one of my buddies who's a decent mechanic to help me (or even ask a pro) . . . I wouldn't be asking someone who's demonstrated that they're equally as ineffective as me at auto mechanics, who has the identical problem with their car.
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I tend to think forums overall are becoming things of the past. People have moved on to things like IG / FB / Tik. Video and sound in place of words. As compared to years past there are more popular Social Media apps today than there were back then for 'interaction'.
This is not isolated to MFP by any means. I used to belong to forums specializing on personal unique hobbies and they as well have pretty much disintegrated to dust compared to even 10 years ago.
Similar to others who have already posted in this thread, I've been on/off over MFP for 10 years. Forums here have gone through many changes along depending on who 'managed' them and in some cases - who owned MFP.
It used to be a daily task to keep up with all the posts here. Many of which where highly interactive. Some 'heated' / some not. Once the 'banning' of users from posting stepped in then the controversial 'wooo' button was used, activity seem to dwindle.
Even trying to get a list of highly interactive friends is more challenging than it was 10 years ago. Now people just click the 'like' and move on.
So - why do people post have asked questions?? Because they can and because 3-5 word posts across various Social Media platforms are most common.
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I feel like it can be hard to find answers to your questions on the boards, I don't find the search function very well designed, so I will often start a new thread, or if I am really lazy, I will shorten my question and see if anyone has answered it on reddit.1
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kshama2001 wrote: »sollyn23l2 wrote: »AyameShimitsu wrote: »As someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, people tend to write short and sweet. I think it really took off with Twitter with the limited character count. Add live stream chats where you don't have time to write a lot due to fast communication, I think the younger generation has made it a habit to talk this way. Especially as talking to computers (Google, siri, alexa) can at least use a database of similarly asked questions by others to at lease kind of figure out what they may be talking about. I equally find it frustrating. I write stories and ask for feedback online and their feedback is a thumbs up. Imagine writing 300k words and the feed back is a thumbs up.
💯 This is why I really limited my responses to people on here that ask a question. You respond, and then they either just ignore it or give a one sentence argument back, usually just saying "won't work" or something to that effect. Then don't pay any attention to what you said anyway.
I have a doc with my common replies to new posters' FAQ. For almost all "Why am I not losing weight?" questions, I ask them to make their diary private. The answer inevitably lies there. I don't want to play 20 questions with someone who is not actually invested in answers.
My bold.
I presume this was meant to say you ask them to make their diary public.
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If it is an issue, I think it has to do partly with lots of people not understanding how to do research or what constitutes evidence. I’m in a couple of Facebook groups for people who share a difficult and sometimes dangerous medical condition. It’s astonishing how often people show up with questions like, "How long will I live?” or “Should I have a baby?” or “How much weight can I lift?” None of us can answer these for total strangers with complex and varying medical histories about which we know virtually nothing; we can only share our own experiences and advise these people to consult with such-and-such specialist based on their own situation, family history, etc. We can share expertise but even then can only talk about probability - sometimes. I suspect most people really have no idea that personal anecdotes, while often helpful and inspiring (or concerning), are the same as actual data.2
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YES! I admin a group on Facebook as a support group for a complex Neurological disorder that I also have. I am inundated with questions about how long will they have this, why dont doctor's do xyz etc. Questions that noone can answer. It's astonishing to me that people even think others can answer such complex and subjective questions. I have been off the forum for 7 years (mostly) as my health took a turn. I deleted my old account and started again so I havent been here for the trends but I know how annoying internet people can be. I have also noticed how difficult it is to find active friends.history_grrrl wrote: »If it is an issue, I think it has to do partly with lots of people not understanding how to do research or what constitutes evidence. I’m in a couple of Facebook groups for people who share a difficult and sometimes dangerous medical condition. It’s astonishing how often people show up with questions like, "How long will I live?” or “Should I have a baby?” or “How much weight can I lift?” None of us can answer these for total strangers with complex and varying medical histories about which we know virtually nothing; we can only share our own experiences and advise these people to consult with such-and-such specialist based on their own situation, family history, etc. We can share expertise but even then can only talk about probability - sometimes. I suspect most people really have no idea that personal anecdotes, while often helpful and inspiring (or concerning), are the same as actual data.
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Oops! That should have read “personal anecdotes are NOT the same as actual data.”2
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sollyn23l2 wrote: »My personal opinion is that people are treating it like Google. They think "oh, write a couple key words in a sentence and I'll get a list of 1000 results." I think they've gotten so used to Google and Alexa that they don't even really realize it's real people on here in the forum, not AI. I saw a woman throw a fit because her question wasn't answered in 20 minutes
if you put so little info into google, you generally get pretty poor / generic results. same on any forum.
just sayin'...3 -
Hi I’m new and/or returning here.
I don’t want to put any effort whatsoever into losing weight. Please tell me how to use this app? I don’t know how to use this app. How can I lose 30, 40, 50 pounds before my / my daughter’s/ my second cousin’s grandchild’s wedding next month.
I know it can be done. There’s a secret and I’m angry. Y’all are holding out on me.
I’m going to exercise until I drop and I swear I only eat 600 calories per day.
I should be able to creat a user ID and immediately lose 20.
I don’t want to pay for the app but I expect full features to be available and if not, I’m going to QUIT, do you hear me? QUIT!!!!!!
I’m not losing. MFP doesn’t work for me.
Wanna buy some bit coin? Hey, you look hot. Wanna see a picture of my awesome abs that barely covers my ‘nads?
Thanks y’all. Just needed to vent.
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Lol. That’s funny right there. Funny because it’s true1
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I'm so used to posters with the attitude "I'M NOT LOSING WEIGHT, TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG, BUT IT CAN'T POSSIBLY HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH MY LOGGING" that I was surprised when someone actually admitted that they were just winging it.3
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Funny, but also so sad @springlering620
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You forgot the “Why doesn’t the bar code work any more? How dare they remove the bar code without telling us?” (Clue - they did) or my personal fave “How dare this profit-making company decide to make a profit by charging us.”springlering62 wrote: »Hi I’m new and/or returning here.
I don’t want to put any effort whatsoever into losing weight. Please tell me how to use this app? I don’t know how to use this app. How can I lose 30, 40, 50 pounds before my / my daughter’s/ my second cousin’s grandchild’s wedding next month.
I know it can be done. There’s a secret and I’m angry. Y’all are holding out on me.
I’m going to exercise until I drop and I swear I only eat 600 calories per day.
I should be able to creat a user ID and immediately lose 20.
I don’t want to pay for the app but I expect full features to be available and if not, I’m going to QUIT, do you hear me? QUIT!!!!!!
I’m not losing. MFP doesn’t work for me.
Wanna buy some bit coin? Hey, you look hot. Wanna see a picture of my awesome abs that barely covers my ‘nads?
Thanks y’all. Just needed to vent.
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“How dare this profit-making company decide to make a profit by charging us.”
Well to be fair...in 2007 when I joined the owners at that time, the Lees, said that it would always be free and that there was never going to be a charge.
Then they sold it for $80 mill.
"...and the times, they are a changin'."2 -
I've done that for years now.sollyn23l2 wrote: »AyameShimitsu wrote: »As someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, people tend to write short and sweet. I think it really took off with Twitter with the limited character count. Add live stream chats where you don't have time to write a lot due to fast communication, I think the younger generation has made it a habit to talk this way. Especially as talking to computers (Google, siri, alexa) can at least use a database of similarly asked questions by others to at lease kind of figure out what they may be talking about. I equally find it frustrating. I write stories and ask for feedback online and their feedback is a thumbs up. Imagine writing 300k words and the feed back is a thumbs up.
💯 This is why I really limited my responses to people on here that ask a question. You respond, and then they either just ignore it or give a one sentence argument back, usually just saying "won't work" or something to that effect. Then don't pay any attention to what you said anyway.
Ann writes a lot of long informational answers for a lot of people which I'm sure they appreciate, but unless she's a really fast typer, it takes time to write the amount she does and I use to spend a couple of hours on here online answering questions. I don't have that time anymore and do most of my answering within breaks between clients or cancelations at work. Don't do much at home anymore.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Yes and I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs of commerce and its economics, but I suspect a lot of the people who grumbled weren’t on here then. I only joined when UA were the owners, and I liked the fact I got an UA voucher 😀 Which was also good marketing as it made me spend more in their shop.cmriverside wrote: »“How dare this profit-making company decide to make a profit by charging us.”
Well to be fair...in 2007 when I joined the owners at that time, the Lees, said that it would always be free and that there was never going to be a charge.
Then they sold it for $80 mill.
"...and the times, they are a changin'."
The other issue with the barcode scanner was it was still user populated and often wrong, it wasn’t the panacea to accurate logging many thought 🤷♂️0 -
claireychn074 wrote: »
Yes and I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs of commerce and its economics, but I suspect a lot of the people who grumbled weren’t on here then. I only joined when UA were the owners, and I liked the fact I got an UA voucher 😀 Which was also good marketing as it made me spend more in their shop.cmriverside wrote: »“How dare this profit-making company decide to make a profit by charging us.”
Well to be fair...in 2007 when I joined the owners at that time, the Lees, said that it would always be free and that there was never going to be a charge.
Then they sold it for $80 mill.
"...and the times, they are a changin'."
The other issue with the barcode scanner was it was still user populated and often wrong, it wasn’t the panacea to accurate logging many thought 🤷♂️
Sure.
There are free workarounds for most stuff...but, meh, I can't go around fixing everyone elses' inability to figure stuff out.
I'm in the habit of just linking good threads from the past, or from the Sticky threads. I have no idea why people get in to big discussions here in threads started by people who make one or two posts. ::shrug::3 -
cmriverside wrote: »claireychn074 wrote: »
Yes and I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs of commerce and its economics, but I suspect a lot of the people who grumbled weren’t on here then. I only joined when UA were the owners, and I liked the fact I got an UA voucher 😀 Which was also good marketing as it made me spend more in their shop.cmriverside wrote: »“How dare this profit-making company decide to make a profit by charging us.”
Well to be fair...in 2007 when I joined the owners at that time, the Lees, said that it would always be free and that there was never going to be a charge.
Then they sold it for $80 mill.
"...and the times, they are a changin'."
The other issue with the barcode scanner was it was still user populated and often wrong, it wasn’t the panacea to accurate logging many thought 🤷♂️
Sure.
There are free workarounds for most stuff...but, meh, I can't go around fixing everyone elses' inability to figure stuff out.
I'm in the habit of just linking good threads from the past, or from the Sticky threads. I have no idea why people get in to big discussions here in threads started by people who make one or two posts. ::shrug::
It’s the cup half full hope that one solitary person will listen and can be helped. Ya never know if a first time poster is a one time whinger, or might actually turn out to be someone who stays and benefits from our golden words.
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And all of us were first time posters once.2
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cmriverside wrote: »claireychn074 wrote: »
Yes and I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs of commerce and its economics, but I suspect a lot of the people who grumbled weren’t on here then. I only joined when UA were the owners, and I liked the fact I got an UA voucher 😀 Which was also good marketing as it made me spend more in their shop.cmriverside wrote: »“How dare this profit-making company decide to make a profit by charging us.”
Well to be fair...in 2007 when I joined the owners at that time, the Lees, said that it would always be free and that there was never going to be a charge.
Then they sold it for $80 mill.
"...and the times, they are a changin'."
The other issue with the barcode scanner was it was still user populated and often wrong, it wasn’t the panacea to accurate logging many thought 🤷♂️
Sure.
There are free workarounds for most stuff...but, meh, I can't go around fixing everyone elses' inability to figure stuff out.
I'm in the habit of just linking good threads from the past, or from the Sticky threads. I have no idea why people get in to big discussions here in threads started by people who make one or two posts. ::shrug::
I think there are two things:
I write stupid long essays to make my best shot at answering the question, if there's enough info to work on. I didn't ask very many questions when I first got here, but I learned a lot - a powerful lot, in usefulness - from reading the answers to other people's questions. So now I try to answer questions, in speculation that someone may read them.
I don't care whether the OP reads them, likes them, whatever. In some ways, I don't care whether anyone does read any individual one. From replies, I know that some people read some of them. Good enough.
(Riverside, you give good answers. I'm not very good at being concise, and you are.)
The other thing, getting into nearly-pointless lengthy arguments about details . . . everyone finds different things fun. Sometimes I find that fun. To a fault. (Everyone's got faults, right?)
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