I frequent quite a few forums covering things like IT, health & medicine, science, news, and driving instruction. Something which really bugs me is when a conversation goes something like this:
Time: Friday Night
Poster #1: I tried to log into the DSA website and I can’t get on. Has anyone else had the problem or is it me?
This is bad enough. I mean, if you can’t work out that a website is down by checking you can access all others… Come on!
Poster #2: I logged in yesterday and it was OK. Have you run a virus scan on your ‘puter?
Aaargh! I hate it when people pretend they know what they’re talking about and then call their computer a “‘puter”.
Poster #3: I can’t get in either. What software do you use to scan your computer?
Going off at tangents is a favoured pastime on forums, especially those involved with driving instructing.
Poster #4: I can’t get in.
By now you’d think it would click with someone that the website in question just might be down.
Poster #5: Same here. I can’t get in at all.
Poster #2 (reply): You need to download XYZ anti-virus and then Spybot and Ad-Aware.
Yep, the experts know best. Just wait and see what happens if you try and install one anti-virus when you already have another running and something doesn’t stop you. And Spybot or Ad-Aware are quite capable of stopping other software operating if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Poster #6: Me as well. I can’t log in.
This is likely to go on for 6 pages or more. And once it quietens down, no doubt in a few weeks someone will dig it up again:
Time: 6 weeks later, Friday Night again
Poster X: Just saw this. I tried logging in a few minutes ago and I was thrown off. Anyone find a solution?
For God’s sake, THE SITE IS DOWN! It often goes down weekends for maintenance, and if it breaks there’s no one to fix it until Monday usually. Lost of sites go down occasionally.
The DSA website (and others) have been the source of discussions very similar to this across many forums over the years. But the reason I mention it is that there is currently a new Thing To Keep Going On About As If You’ve Had A Frontal Lobotomy being discussed in just the same way.
The DSA has recently launched a new website/portal and it has sent email notifications to those who are registered with it. There is obviously a little bit of a problem with the emailing system, because it seems that around half a dozen are being sent every day at the moment (about 10 minutes apart). This has sent the feeble-minded apoplectic on certain forums.
There is a battle on to boast the most emails (“I’ve received 8”, “Well, I’ve had 10”, “I can beat that – I’ve had 15”, and so on). Then there are those who feel vulnerable (“I’ve not had any. Someone obviously doesn’t like me”). Then there are the dickheads (“Enough is enough. How much is this costing, keep sending out emails like this?”) and the total dickheads (“I’ve replied to every one of them demanding that they stop!” – the actual email address is a ‘no reply’ one). And, of course, there are the über-dickheads (“This is illegal SPAM and I will be contacting my solicitor on Monday morning”).
You’d be surprised how many über-dickheads there are…