[H_KARLUK]

Personally I dont care whether or not pointless snide remarks are made. Just shows the character of those making them.
Oh Fred ♥, what a super bad man you are....
While you are advising politeness (which i agree), you neglected to open a special "snide remarks mini bowl" sub forum. But no worries, you are still my favorite.

[helene_t]

1eyedjack, on Feb 22 2009, 09:12 AM, said:

"LOL" is just a rude way of saying "wtp".

I am probably naive, but I don't generally read it that way. If my post makes someone laugh, it could be because it reminds him of a funny fish tale, or because he found an amusing spelling mistake in my post, or because he approves my attempt to phrase the question in a funny way.

Of course it could also translate to "it is ridiculous that you write that kind of nonsense" but even so, I appreciate that expressed his opinion in only three letters. It would be much more annoying if he wrote a long piece of prose that basically translates to the same.

[sathyab]

helene_t, on Feb 22 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Of course it could also translate to "it is ridiculous that you write that kind of nonsense" but even so, I appreciate that expressed his opinion in only three letters. I

That's like being grateful to a driver who expressed his appreciation using just one finger.

[H_KARLUK]

"Criticism in psychology" is an interesting issue.

[Trumpace]

1eyedjack, on Feb 22 2009, 03:12 AM, said:

...snip..
"wtp" without expressing a preference for the right action is otiose.

...snip..

Sorry for off-topic post.

It was a surprise to me to see that otiose is not a typo!

[Cascade]

I never make one-line posts.

[gwnn]

agree w sathyab

[helene_t]

gwnn, on Feb 22 2009, 10:17 PM, said:

agree w sathyab

I take exception to that comment.

[jdonn]

sathyab, on Feb 22 2009, 12:57 PM, said:

helene_t, on Feb 22 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Of course it could also translate to "it is ridiculous that you write that kind of nonsense" but even so, I appreciate that expressed his opinion in only three letters.

That's like being grateful to a driver who expressed his appreciation using just one finger.

Which you should be if you had announced on a megaphone "Attention other drivers, please express your opinion about how I am driving." In other words, if you have posted a question.

Or maybe all my time in New York has just immunized me to receiving a finger from another driver, not sure.

[jillybean]

The original question

awm said:

"What do you think about replies (usually to bridge-related threads) that say things like "Agree with Jlall" or "4NT WTP" without giving any further reasoning or explanation?"

I would like to hear from the 4 who voted "I wish only "top experts" would post these; otherwise waste of space"

[JLOL]

Here are my thoughts:

I agree with posts: These are absolutely useful. I will not reiterate the same argument that has already been posted, but if my view has been posted I will agree so that people know that another person feels the same way. To take a simple situation, if there were 2 possible views on a hand and one person posted one and the next person posted the other then people have no idea which is better without knowing who agrees with which views. I agrees are perfect for solving this problem. Polls are NOT, not every vote is created equal, and maybe OP didnt know there were only 2 possible answers to begin with. I think it is obnoxious to post the same thing thats already been posted rather than just post an I agree.

One line posts: Sometimes these are not the optimal posts, but they're better than nothing. If I'm not in the mood to post a long post, or if I am short on time, or whatever, I still might just post 1H rather than 1H+reasoning. 1H+reasoning might be better, but 1H is surely better than posting nothing. I think that people would rather know I bid 1H than know nothing at all, even though they might prefer my reasoning. Also many times I just feel like the rationale for each bid might be obvious, it's just a choice of which one. I don't want to state the obvious reasons, I'll just post my answer based on what my judgement and experience suggests.

WTP: This is a concise way to say that you think the bid is obvious. There is no shorter way, and it is easily recognizable. Again it might be nice to post the reasoning, but if it comes down to just posting your bid and not how clear it is or giving a WTP, a WTP is preferable obviously since it gives more info for people to evaluate with. I agree that it is the most tactful way to say something, but if you really get you're feelings hurt from it you should grow a thicker skin. I would rather post 1H WTP than this a completely clear 1H bid, there is no other option that is close to me in order to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy inside.

LOL: Obviously I created this one, and my initial intent was to only post LOL. I think it is great for insulting trolls or people who are posting a stupid post in advanced/expert forum when they are clearly not without wasting too much effort on it. It is great for saying that you think whatever you quoted before the LOL is complete nonsense without wasting too much time on it. Those who have been around know I have always had the habit of giving these trolls/people/posts way too much time and effort when it's not necessary. I think it certainly adds value when I effectively say that some post or point was really LOL bad. The reader can evaluate if my opinion is more valuable than the person I am LOLing. I am happy to quickly and concisely discredit things that are LOL bad without wasting time on it, and I think it helps less experienced readers figure out what is right and what is wrong.

Am I arrogant? Well let's say I will always think I am ALWAYS right when I LOL some post. I don't want to waste a million words proving the world is round. I do want people to know that if someone says its flat though that they are without a doubt wrong. If you ever feel like I single people out because I LOL some often and I never LOL franceshinden, it's because frances doesn't post nonsense and I will almost never be 100 % sure to LOL her. However some people consistently post nonsense, so they get LOLed more often. FWIW Jdonn used to be my favorite person to LOL.

Also, to Lobowolf who wishes that only classy world class players would post since they would not LOL, they would also be very unlikely to ever post in high volume and they would probably never even respond to nonsense. I would rather Bob Hamman make 11,000 posts than 2,000 posts even if the other 9,000 posts were less classy and perhaps downright rude at times. It's not like you can keep up the same rate of replies if you are always posting long explanations that are tactful and try to never hurt anyones feelings and you have to explain why the most ludicrous things are wrong.

Personally I think the fact that LOL spread so much is a function of how excellent it is for it's purpose.

[H_KARLUK]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7227543/Malignan...isism-Revisited

Another nice study of Sam Vaknin, Ph. D.

[helene_t]

sathyab, on Feb 22 2009, 06:57 PM, said:

helene_t, on Feb 22 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Of course it could also translate to "it is ridiculous that you write that kind of nonsense" but even so, I appreciate that expressed his opinion in only three letters. I

That's like being grateful to a driver who expressed his appreciation using just one finger.

You are advocating higher standards for politeness while at the same time it's not like you are treating other posters with particular respect in this thread. Suppose a sizable minority takes exception to sarcastic analogies, should there also be some policy against those? Not as far as I am concerned but then again I don't believe in political correctness anyway.

But cudos for limiting your response to one line.

[mtvesuvius]

If you really don't want to use LOL, then you can use Helene's Singature:

Quote

If thoughts could fry, you would now be a spam fritter --- FrancesHinden

[Fluffy]

jdonn, on Feb 20 2009, 08:34 PM, said:

I also use 'agree with' for social reasons. I look out for chances to agree with the reasoning of someone who I may recently have had some disagreements or acrimonious exchanges with. I have always considered that a good way to mend hurt feelings or show that we can be 'over' a prior disagreement.

I agree with this .

Seriously, I recently spent almost a month looking for a post to agree with "IwontTellYouWho". I am still looking for it LOL.

[Fluffy]

JLOL, on Feb 23 2009, 06:39 AM, said:

Personally I think the fact that LOL spread so much is a function of how excellent it is for it's purpose.

I personally think that it spread only because you used it. But what do I know, I think I never answered a wtp unless it was for a 2NT wtp joke. (I would rather look like a fool that offend someone).

Nobody said so yet, even though I am fairly sure we all agree. If someone posts a wtp in the BIL he deserves to be kicked in the groin.

[mtvesuvius]

Fluffy, on Feb 23 2009, 10:12 AM, said:

If someone posts a wtp in the BIL he deserves to be kicked in the groin.

That is true! BIL is a place for posting that should be a LOL and WTP free zone. If you are seriously offended by LOLs or WTPs you can post in BIL, and never recieve them, even if someone asked your opinion on your opening bid with xxx xxx xxx xxxx and you said 1♥. People would disagree, but no LOLs.

[jdonn]

helene_t, on Feb 23 2009, 07:33 AM, said:

sathyab, on Feb 22 2009, 06:57 PM, said:

helene_t, on Feb 22 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Of course it could also translate to "it is ridiculous that you write that kind of nonsense" but even so, I appreciate that expressed his opinion in only three letters. I

That's like being grateful to a driver who expressed his appreciation using just one finger.

You are advocating higher standards for politeness while at the same time it's not like you are treating other posters with particular respect in this thread. Suppose a sizable minority takes exception to sarcastic analogies, should there also be some policy against those? Not as far as I am concerned but then again I don't believe in political correctness anyway.

But cudos for limiting your response to one line.

LOL

(not in the insulting manner!)

[Phil]

In the end, I think WTP's are really not a problem. We all get a lot and give a lot out of this, and if a really good player wants to just give his or her opinion without elaborating, its their business. I can imagine having this conversation in the MBR:

Young and Eager Poster: Your hand is bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. What is your call?

True World Class Player: 7D

YAEP: Oh come on, tell me your thoughts. What is your reasoning? Why are you doing this?

TWCP: My thoughts are I would like you to Go to Hell.


For lesser folk, spelling out your reasoning is a good exercise, since it gives others the opportunity to point out flaws in your thinking.

OTOH, LOL's can be a brief way to say someone makes no sense. But I'd just assume no one say anything. If its so obvious, another good poster with more time on their hands will point out why its a LOL.

[onoway]

re Phil's post: LOL ! I agree!