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Thank you for that neat, clear and concise evaluation of my personality. Note that I didn't include "accurate". Last time this was submitted, and I replied, s

Thank you for that neat, clear and concise evaluation of my personality. Note that I didn't include "accurate". Last time this was submitted, and I replied, someone asked: > why do you hate fun? My reply to that basically covers your comment, so I thought I'd include it here (with minor editing): It's clear that you think this sort of email is cute and fun. Possibly I used to think so too, 30 years ago. Now, however, I've seen too many of them, read too many of them, felt cheated of time by too many of them. I don't hate fun. I love having fun. I seek out having fun. I make time to have fun. What's not fun, pretty much by definition, is someone else's attempt at humor that is not, to me, funny. If it had been me receiving that email I'd've resented the 30 seconds it took to check that its content was "CD posted", and that everything else was there purely for entertainment. I didn't find it entertaining. My tastes have changed over the years. So, in short, I love fun, have lots of fun, and think lots of things are funny. That wasn't one of them.

JoeAltmaier 16y ago
No, you got me wrong. I get it - you hate these things. Its your compulsion to ruin everyone else's fun by posting wet-blanket pedantic diatribes against them that makes it a "precious fusspot" moment. Be honest - the email subject told you everything you wanted to know - you didn't spend any time at all reading the crap - you just have to vent about it. As a veteran venter I have been in that boat. Been a 'precious fusspot' myself more than once. Man enough to admit it.
- zck 16y ago
  >Be honest - the email subject told you everything you wanted to know... From what I can tell by searching around, the actual subject title of this email is "CD Baby Loves you", not "CD Baby order shipped", so one does have to read this email to find out what it means. However, let's assume that the title did say that the order shipped. One still has to look in the email to see if every ordered item shipped, or whether any of them are backordered, or arriving in multiple shipments. Maybe a person placed two orders at the same time -- which one shipped? Let's assume a person only ordered one cd. Ey still has to read the entire thing, because maybe there's some content in it that ey need to act on (e.g., the wrong shipping address, or the wrong charge amount). If that was the case, and someone didn't read the email, whose fault would it be when the mistake was found out later? Everyone laughs when people don't read a software EULA that promises the creator the user's soul, saying "well, people should have read the EULA". How much would the cd buyer be blamed if ey was charged double and didn't find out about it until a month later, when eir credit card statement came in? "Well, it was in your order confirmation; you should have read it." And arguing that the CDBaby order confirmation doesn't contain the price, and it contains the address at the top, so my argument doesn't apply is not the issue. How do you know there's no data requiring action in the text unless you read it?
  - JoeAltmaier 16y ago
    Because its whimsical nonsense.
    - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
      Exactly, and it wastes my time trying to work out what it means, rather than letting me get on with things that are more important, more fun, and more rewarding. I'm not complaining that it's whimsical nonsense, I'm complaining that it's whimsical nonsense that other people insist I should find fun, and then they force it on me whether I want it or not. I'm 50. I'm no longer a teenager, so I no longer know everything. My life is half over. Please, let me choose where I find my fun. And GET OFF MY LAWN!
    - zck 16y ago
      How did you determine it was whimsical nonsense, and only whimsical nonsense that did not contain anything that needed to be acted on? Were you able to do so without reading it?
kbutler 16y ago
>> precious fusspot > Thank you for that neat, clear and concise evaluation of my personality. Note that I didn't include "accurate". > My reply to that basically covers your comment, so I thought I'd include it here ... > If it had been me receiving that email I'd've resented the 30 seconds it took to check that its content was "CD posted", Sounds like you'll spend a lot of time whining about 30 seconds you didn't actually lose...and do it again when the same thread comes up again on HN. "precious fusspot" sounds accurate: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/precious http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/precious 4. affectedly or excessively delicate http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fusspot http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fusspot Brit informal a person who fusses unnecessarily kb
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  I'm choosing to spend time trying to save other people time, and giving them a gift of an alternative viewpoint. That's my choice to make - it's one of the ways I try to make the world better. Besides, I type really fast. (now see if you can work out when I'm being sarcastic, and when I'm being genuine.)
  - JoeAltmaier 16y ago
    Versus making the world better with a little whimsy? Both take 30 seconds to read. Both are essentially a waste of time. I guess we might argue somebody, somewhere finds diatribe engaging. Whimsy also has its audience, witness the gentle soul who made the original post.
    - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
      Look, let's just agree to disagree. You find it whimsical and gently amusing. I find it an infuriating waste of my time and about as funny as a whoopee cushion. I've made my case, you've made yours. I claim that doing this will needlessly annoy paying customers. You think it doesn't matter. Now I really won't waste any more time on it.
      - 16y ago

JoeAltmaier 16y ago

No, you got me wrong. I get it - you hate these things. Its your compulsion to ruin everyone else's fun by posting wet-blanket pedantic diatribes against them that makes it a "precious fusspot" moment. Be honest - the email subject told you everything you wanted to know - you didn't spend any time at all reading the crap - you just have to vent about it. As a veteran venter I have been in that boat. Been a 'precious fusspot' myself more than once. Man enough to admit it.

zck 16y ago
>Be honest - the email subject told you everything you wanted to know... From what I can tell by searching around, the actual subject title of this email is "CD Baby Loves you", not "CD Baby order shipped", so one does have to read this email to find out what it means. However, let's assume that the title did say that the order shipped. One still has to look in the email to see if every ordered item shipped, or whether any of them are backordered, or arriving in multiple shipments. Maybe a person placed two orders at the same time -- which one shipped? Let's assume a person only ordered one cd. Ey still has to read the entire thing, because maybe there's some content in it that ey need to act on (e.g., the wrong shipping address, or the wrong charge amount). If that was the case, and someone didn't read the email, whose fault would it be when the mistake was found out later? Everyone laughs when people don't read a software EULA that promises the creator the user's soul, saying "well, people should have read the EULA". How much would the cd buyer be blamed if ey was charged double and didn't find out about it until a month later, when eir credit card statement came in? "Well, it was in your order confirmation; you should have read it." And arguing that the CDBaby order confirmation doesn't contain the price, and it contains the address at the top, so my argument doesn't apply is not the issue. How do you know there's no data requiring action in the text unless you read it?
- JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  Because its whimsical nonsense.
  - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
    Exactly, and it wastes my time trying to work out what it means, rather than letting me get on with things that are more important, more fun, and more rewarding. I'm not complaining that it's whimsical nonsense, I'm complaining that it's whimsical nonsense that other people insist I should find fun, and then they force it on me whether I want it or not. I'm 50. I'm no longer a teenager, so I no longer know everything. My life is half over. Please, let me choose where I find my fun. And GET OFF MY LAWN!
  - zck 16y ago
    How did you determine it was whimsical nonsense, and only whimsical nonsense that did not contain anything that needed to be acted on? Were you able to do so without reading it?

kbutler 16y ago

>> precious fusspot > Thank you for that neat, clear and concise evaluation of my personality. Note that I didn't include "accurate". > My reply to that basically covers your comment, so I thought I'd include it here ... > If it had been me receiving that email I'd've resented the 30 seconds it took to check that its content was "CD posted", Sounds like you'll spend a lot of time whining about 30 seconds you didn't actually lose...and do it again when the same thread comes up again on HN. "precious fusspot" sounds accurate: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/precious http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/precious 4. affectedly or excessively delicate http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fusspot http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fusspot Brit informal a person who fusses unnecessarily kb

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
I'm choosing to spend time trying to save other people time, and giving them a gift of an alternative viewpoint. That's my choice to make - it's one of the ways I try to make the world better. Besides, I type really fast. (now see if you can work out when I'm being sarcastic, and when I'm being genuine.)
- JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  Versus making the world better with a little whimsy? Both take 30 seconds to read. Both are essentially a waste of time. I guess we might argue somebody, somewhere finds diatribe engaging. Whimsy also has its audience, witness the gentle soul who made the original post.
  - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
    Look, let's just agree to disagree. You find it whimsical and gently amusing. I find it an infuriating waste of my time and about as funny as a whoopee cushion. I've made my case, you've made yours. I claim that doing this will needlessly annoy paying customers. You think it doesn't matter. Now I really won't waste any more time on it.
    - 16y ago