"Pun" threads

[Dips]

But how to quantify it. How does one come up with a fair system to say that "X" is funny while "Y" isn't.

Eh? Humor is subjective. Some people find "It must be free!" hilarious. Other people find it as funny as a root canal. I wouldn't even TRY to quantify humor. I'm just saying what *I* find funny and don't find funny. That's all.

Example. Someone posted a story of someone who returned a toolbox because it had a handle. Many people would find that a bit odd and most of them would be baffled by the logic behind the return.

So I posted in agreement over the "hard to wrap your brain around" situation by posting...

"It was as if millions of brain cells cried out and were suddenly silenced."

Nothing wrong with that. It's funny.

It could be argued that it was irrelevant to the OP, it could also be argued that it was a humorous way of saying "Gee, I agree that the logic there (or lack thereof) was of a type as to cause a headache from trying to fathom it."

It could be but it wouldn't be. At least not by me or any of the other moderators.

Two ways to look at it. 50/50 odds of offending someone, 50/50 odds of tickling someone's funny bone and making their day.

Not really. It's not offensive. Jokes are not against the rules nor is anyone proposing they should be. The worst thing that will happen is that the joke falls flat and you get the proverbial crickets chirping. I know it's happened to me plenty of times with my jokes both online and in real life.

Who is right? Where does that post fit in?

Nobody is wrong. The post fits in fine.

I agree that it can get thick in there pretty quickly. Hell I have a child who hasn't learned when to drop a joke because it isn't funny after the 23'rd telling much less the 43'rd. But how to quantify it? Aye, that's the rub.

I think you've just stumbled on a better example. My son would do that and his grandfather would egg him on. In the car. On a looong drive.

It can't be quantified when the cute joke became annoying and repetitive but you know it happened someplace between the first telling and the 43rd.

[HYHYBT]

But how to quantify it. How does one come up with a fair system to say that "X" is funny while "Y" isn't.

When the OP asks you to stop. Wouldn't that be simple enough?

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

When the OP asks you to stop. Wouldn't that be simple enough?

Oh that would be great. It's pretty simple, pretty straight forward.

But how often do we see the OP doing that? How often have we seen threads get punned to death and just dwindle off into the archives with hardly a second glance?

If more OP's would chime in and say "Ok fellers, It's getting a little thick here. Can we improve the signal to noise ratio please?", it would be a good thing.

Who knows? It might actually work. Might not, but it's worth a try.

[Racket_Man]

If more OP's would chime in and say "Ok fellers, It's getting a little thick here. Can we improve the signal to noise ratio please?", it would be a good thing.

Who knows? It might actually work. Might not, but it's worth a try.

I DID try that with several of my OPs that got nitpicked but it seemed half the replies just kept going continuing to nitpick until either I used the Report button or one of the Mods stepped in before I could do a Report message.

[Boozy]

People have the bad habit of replying to a post in the middle of the thread without scrolling to the end of the thread first.

That's how moderators notes and polite requests from the OPs often get missed.

It's a good habit to read (or at least peruse) the entire thread before responding to it.

[blas87]

Last week I let my feelings get the better of me and responded to a thread before reporting it, and that made it really messy for the mods to clean out the parts that needed editing.

So really, it's better to not say anything and just report it.

I'm not sure about others, but when it comes to the puns or the FTSTS I don't see the point anyway in going into my own thread and asking others to stop nitpicking at me or to quit making jokes.

[AdminAssistant]

Another irritant - The "I'm More Special Than You" Syndrome

I pretty much stay to the off topic sections, for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm not in a customer service position any more, and I can't really discuss my students in any specific way, and 2) I simply don't have the time to keep up. I'd much rather hang out on this forum, tbh.

But I can see some weird crap in the off topic section. The "One-Up-Geek-ship" aka "I'm a bigger geek than you are," for example. I know I've participated at some point (because in grad school you see this taken to a whole different level). But when I see people think that they are better than someone else because of their pop culture preferences, I shake my head. Yeah, I'm a geek. I read history for fun, play World of Warcraft, and can discuss the finer points of the German Intellectual movement. But I don't think that makes me a better, smarter, or "more special" person than my sister who spends her spare time watching kid-friendly television, Lifetime movie specials, and reading trashy romantic novels. She does things that she enjoys, and so do I. It's as simple as that.

Then, of course, there are those who practically introduce themselves with whatever disorder they have (with or without an actual diagnosis). "I'm So-and-So, and I have *insert disorder of the month*." When it has no bearing on the subject at hand. Yes, if you're having trouble dealing in the workplace, then your AS diagnosis is relevant. Otherwise, do we really need to know? It's a public forum, people, not an AA group. I wouldn't say, "Hi, I'm AdminAssistant and I have high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and chronic migraines. But I really want to talk about this movie I just saw...." Besides, I don't know of any members that are actual doctors, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors. We can help and offer support, up to a point. But there's also a point where online support won't cut it. Online armchair doctors are no replacement for actual treatment.

[HYHYBT]

It's a good habit to read (or at least peruse) the entire thread before responding to it.

I've gotten in the habit of typing up my answers to long threads in a Mail window. That way I can reply to posts as I read them, and therefore not forget about what I'd been going to say by the time I get to the end, and still delete things if I see they've already been covered by others. Of course, it's still easy to miss anything that was posted between when I load the page and when I submit the reply... especially with my habit of opening ten, twenty or more tabs/windows at once and then going through them one at a time.

[Red Panda]

Or, as in the case that was my reason for starting this thread, how would you feel if they spent the whole day making nothing but jokes and puns over the first words out of your mouth?

YOU: How do you do?
THEM: I dodo very well.
Where's the doodoo?
Don't get that doodoo on me.
Yeah, cause you wouldn't want to have a crappy day.
Oh, yeah, that would be just shitty!
And we wouldn't want the shit to hit the fan.
HYUK HYUK!!!

YOU: Ummm...well I will just be over here at my desk not saying anything else. Thanks for making me feel so welcome. Glad you could have a laugh at my expense.

That sounds like the coolest place to work ever. Of course I wouldn't get my panties twisted up over a doodoo joke. I've got bigger things to worry about.

[Ree]

That sounds like the coolest place to work ever. Of course I wouldn't get my panties twisted up over a doodoo joke. I've got bigger things to worry about.

That's lovely for you.
Obviously, I wouldn't be referring to you, then, but I certainly know many other people who would be upset when they are new to a forum and they feel as if they are being mocked from the first word.

[jackfaire]

That sounds like the coolest place to work ever. Of course I wouldn't get my panties twisted up over a doodoo joke. I've got bigger things to worry about.

Like the fact that no one would actually be talking to you just pointing and laughing?

I understand what Ree is saying it's like trying to have a conversation with people and they ignore you in favor of mocking your choice of words and everything you say turns into more jokes where your not even a part of it.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Exactly that. Or, another example; say you had a bad day at work and went to your friend's house. You told her all about it. Her only response was to home in on some bad grammar you used and nitpick about it.

[Ree]

Was doing a cleanup of my PM box at CS because it was full to capacity, and I came across a series of PM's that reminded of another situation from quite a while ago. (Yeah, I really need to keep on top of things in my PM box. )

A member posted in off topic about female issues, infertility specifically.
Instead of getting support, the thread ended up derailing into jokes about members making other members pregnant, and it snowballed, until guys were claiming to have been impregnated by guys, and females by females, etc.

Harmless fun when taken at face value, but the person behind the screen felt that, instead of being supported by fellow members, her pain had become a source of fun for them.

Of course that wasn't the case at all, it was just a case of others joining in the fun and not thinking about the OP's post at all, but that's just another example of what happens.

[Ree]

This is a very old thread, but I was reminded of it lately because I am seeing a trend again for a small group of members to just post stupid annoying cornball jokes and puns in response to some of the threads on CS.

WTF???

I have a sense of humour, and I can laugh at a good joke or pun with the best of them, but it gets old really quickly.

Now, some threads aren't a problem, such as the one started about the on-hold music playing at the member's psychiatrist's office. It was just begging for the easy jokes and puns.

Also, some people are really really good at the puns and jokes, and sometimes it does add to a thread, but some people aren't good at it, and their comments just come off as irritating to me.

Some have even used the "joke" responses as a way to introduce fratching comments. That pisses me off.

Like I say, it's bloody annoying.

Every time I see the avatar from certain members, or see their name on the "new posts" list, I just want to skip right over their comment because I know it's going to be pure cornball.

Makes me think they have the wrong avatar.

[BlaqueKatt]

This is a very old thread, but I was reminded of it lately because I am seeing a trend again for a small group of members to just post stupid annoying cornball jokes and puns in response to some of the threads on CS.

I refer to it as "class clown syndrome", or "Jackass syndrome*"-because we had a kid in school that wanted sooo much to be popular he tried to be Robin Williams, but he wasn't Robin Williams he was Sean, and he tried way to hard. As in trying to the point people weren't laughing with him, or because of him, but at him, mainly because the things he did and said were immensely stupid, but as long as people were laughing he kept it up. I have a very vivid memory of him standing on a lunch table in third grade and yelling "oh my god, it's twelve o'clock, time for underwear!" and dropping his pants.

*Is it really hilarious to see someone be flung 50 feet in a full port-a-potty? Are we that close to actually having a tv show called "Ow my balls"?