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Pet Peeve Thread; Let's hear them.

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Brian Alex

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After reading KGIII's excellent post and thread about unburdening his chest, I wanted to add some things that annoy me no end but I didn't want to hijack that thread.

For me it is data or articles with no date anywhere to show when it was obtained or written. Here is an example that I encountered today while doing some study.
https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Introduction.html.
Unless I am just going senile, I don't see a date anywhere on this article. For all I know it is quite old and long since superseded. I did a Logic course once (incomplete) and this was one of the points as I faintly recall of something being illogical; missing date or dropped out time. Why not just put the date in the beginning or at least at the end?
The next one is also demonstrated in this same article; The use of Acronyms without ever explaining what the F-ing letters STAND FOR. When I salvaged my first computer from a trash can in 2005 I looked all over creation trying to find what SATA stood for. Simple, Serial ATA ! Oh thanks!! Took me quite a bit of further sleuthing to figure out the ATA part. Whew, thanks, chest feels better.
 


Brian Alex said:
For me it is data or articles with no date anywhere to show when it was obtained or written.
Click to expand...
I agree completely. If it's worth putting in writing, it's worth the effort of putting the date on it. The whole date, including the year - "September 12th" is not a date whereas "September 12th, 2026" is and it is unambiguous. It's amazing how quickly a year (or multiple years) can go by between when you write something down and when someone (even yourself) reads it.

Brian Alex said:
The use of Acronyms without ever explaining what the F-ing letters STAND FOR.
Click to expand...
If a term occurs multiple times in the material you are writing, go ahead and use the acronym and, on the first use of the acronym, tell what it means. Then, on subsequent occurrences, just use the acronym and that can save much typing and make your material easier to read. If the term only occurs once, just spell it out and don't bother with the acronym.

I poke fun at the acronym-only people by stating that "My dog was generated by AI" and "This picture of my dog was generated by AI", which are two entirely different things.
 
MikeRocor said:
I agree completely. If it's worth putting in writing, it's worth the effort of putting the date on it. The whole date, including the year - "September 12th" is not a date whereas "September 12th, 2026" is and it is unambiguous. It's amazing how quickly a year (or multiple years) can go by between when you write something down and when someone (even yourself) reads it.


If a term occurs multiple times in the material you are writing, go ahead and use the acronym and, on the first use of the acronym, tell what it means. Then, on subsequent occurrences, just use the acronym and that can save much typing and make your material easier to read. If the term only occurs once, just spell it out and don't bother with the acronym.

I poke fun at the acronym-only people by stating that "My dog was generated by AI" and "This picture of my dog was generated by AI", which are two entirely different things.
Click to expand...
Well I still don't know what btrfs is even after searching "what do the letters in BTRFS stand for". some sort of file system but I like to know what every acronym really stands for if there is a clear answer. I guess I'm weird.
 
Brian Alex said:
Well I still don't know what btrfs is even after searching "what do the letters in BTRFS stand for". some sort of file system but I like to know what every acronym really stands for if there is a clear answer. I guess I'm weird.
Click to expand...

B-Tree File System. i personally like ext4 better.
 
BTRFS - Stands for B-tree file system

This may help

Mastering Linux BTRFS: A Comprehensive Guide

In the realm of Linux file systems, BTRFS (B-Tree File System) stands out as a modern and feature-rich option. Developed with a focus on scalability, reliability, and advanced data management, BTRFS has become a popular choice for both home users and enterprise environments. This blog post aims...
linuxvox.com linuxvox.com
 
Let's try not to turn this into a giant ball of negativity. We're not really about that here. Still, I'll use this opportunity.

I think any pet peeves I share will just be limited to the language, as we largely communicate with text on this site...

Hmm...

alot
noone
aswell
softwares

(None of those are words.)

ATM Machine or VIN Number

'less' vs 'fewer' (generally speaking, fewer refers to countable items, like fewer people vs less water).
'it's' vs 'its' (It's okay to use its accessories.)

Skipping words, like so...

My broken TV needs repaired.
Those are things need repaired.

I could go on...

I'm not trying to be negative; I'm trying to help people write better.

That way, it's a more positive post (I hope). Most of the regulars use English well enough to be easily understood.

Also, if you wanted to be involved in a more formal debate, you'd not bring up somebody's use of the language, as long as it is understood. You debate the substance of their argument, not their grasp of the language.

But if we want to really dive into pet peeves, I'd say 'zealotry'. However, I'm not sure that I can rant about that while being positive. We have a lot of fairly zealous people on this site. I suspect some of them don't even realize it.
 
GatorsFan said:
BTRFS - Stands for B-tree file system

This may help

Mastering Linux BTRFS: A Comprehensive Guide

In the realm of Linux file systems, BTRFS (B-Tree File System) stands out as a modern and feature-rich option. Developed with a focus on scalability, reliability, and advanced data management, BTRFS has become a popular choice for both home users and enterprise environments. This blog post aims...
linuxvox.com linuxvox.com
Click to expand...
An improvement on the Binary Tree. A fast sorting and selection algorithm often used for databases, IIRC.

en.wikipedia.org

Binary tree - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

B-tree - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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Brian Alex said:
I guess I'm weird.
Click to expand...
Not weird for that, though I'd bet that, like me, you've got some other... oh, just never mind. ;)

If you don't know (if everyone involved in a communication doesn't know) what all of the terms used in such a communication mean then meaningful communication is at serious risk.

It looks to me like B-Tree File System should have been abbreviated as "BTFS" but the 'r' from "tree" was kept specifically so that the acronym could be pronounced as "Better F.S", which seems (to me) like "BS".

From a quick read on wikipedia, it looks like BTRFS has a bunch of really neat features but I'll likely stick with ext4 for my own use cases.
 
KGIII said:
Let's try not to turn this into a giant ball of negativity. We're not really about that here. Still, I'll use this opportunity.

I think any pet peeves I share will just be limited to the language, as we largely communicate with text on this site...

Hmm...

alot
noone
aswell
softwares

(None of those are words.)

ATM Machine or VIN Number

'less' vs 'fewer' (generally speaking, fewer refers to countable items, like fewer people vs less water).
'it's' vs 'its' (It's okay to use its accessories.)

Skipping words, like so...

My broken TV needs repaired.
Those are things need repaired.

I could go on...

I'm not trying to be negative; I'm trying to help people write better.

That way, it's a more positive post (I hope). Most of the regulars use English well enough to be easily understood.

Also, if you wanted to be involved in a more formal debate, you'd not bring up somebody's use of the language, as long as it is understood. You debate the substance of their argument, not their grasp of the language.

But if we want to really dive into pet peeves, I'd say 'zealotry'. However, I'm not sure that I can rant about that while being positive. We have a lot of fairly zealous people on this site. I suspect some of them don't even realize it.
Click to expand...
I agree with the skipping of words. It could be a sort of contagion of aberration because people reading text written from a smart phone see enough of these short-cuts that over time, they may start to believe that it's the new, modern way to write. I can let many of them slide though since I'm barely literate myself.
MikeRocor said:
Not weird for that, though I'd bet that, like me, you've got some other... oh, just never mind. ;)

If you don't know (if everyone involved in a communication doesn't know) what all of the terms used in such a communication mean then meaningful communication is at serious risk.

It looks to me like B-Tree File System should have been abbreviated as "BTFS" but the 'r' from "tree" was kept specifically so that the acronym could be pronounced as "Better F.S", which seems (to me) like "BS".

From a quick read on wikipedia, it looks like BTRFS has a bunch of really neat features but I'll likely stick with ext4 for my own use cases.
Click to expand...
Well, the reason I was even looking for this term is that TimeShift settings give you a choice of "RSYNC" or "BTRFS" snapshots. I quickly learned that RSYNC is the best format by a large margin. I'm learning, very slowly.
 
Brian Alex said:
I agree with the skipping of words.
Click to expand...

It's amazingly common on YouTube. For whatever reason, it sticks out (to me) like a sore thumb.

My own use of the English language is not perfect. However, my usage of the language is more correct than that of a large group of native English speakers. I actually like it when someone corrects me, whereas many people are offended by that.

It's also good to note that poor language skills don't automatically make the substance incorrect. So long as you can understand what they're saying, we should address that and not their language skills.
 
Brian Alex said:
https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Introduction.html.
Unless I am just going senile, I don't see a date anywhere on this article. For all I know it is quite old and long since superseded.
Click to expand...
You're not going senile, but you're wrong in that it is superseded. It is the latest and official documentation of the BTRFS filesystem. This version on readthedocs is their modern rework of the superseded BTRFS wiki.

I do quite like the readthedocs interface, it's uniformly clean, the search does work ok, and its acceptance among developers appears to be good - it's easier for them to update it with the same workflow they use for software.

Regarding publishing date: the version you link is always the latest available. A major advancement to the old wiki is that it has channels, i.e. you link the "latest" branch but you can also select the "stable" one - via the interface or here: https://app.readthedocs.org/projects/btrfs/
For BTRFS the channel is not this important, since it is very stable these days. For other, more volatile, software using readthedocs, it may matter which release your system uses. These projects often have more than two channels of documentation to choose from, e.g. for major releases.

That was a long explanation why the date is not important in this case, alas I certainly agree with you in principle. It's a real nuisance if one cannot deduct how old an article or documentation is in general. And for BTRFS the acronym point certainly holds too. They abolished a lot of gruft but also explanatory documentation when leaving behind their prior documentation. A big negative side of readthedocs is that most on the platform is self-contained, e.g. you will rarely find links to other documentation outside the platform (e.g. the kernel doc for a filesystem).
 
I was at the store today, when I was done I decided to walk over to a burger restaurant to get something to eat. I stood at the counter waiting for somone to help me for about ten minutes. I know what you're thinking, "they wanted you to give up and use the kosk." My friend, there was no kiosk. "Okay, but were they busy?" No. There was one car in the drive through and two customers inside, who already had their food. "Maybe they didn't see you." No fewer than four employees looked at me without helping me, greeting me, acknowledging me, or looking me in the eye. A fifth employee (FIFTH!) walked up to the register, did something on it, and then walked away before someone finally said they would be with me soon. While I was ordering, the guy who had lolligagged on the register talked over me so that I had to repeat myself to the person taking my order.

I waited ten more minutes, and no one had called my order. I walked up to the counter, and someone who had come in after me was getting their food. They guy who had taken my order asked if I wanted dessert, I told him no, I hadn't gotten my food yet. He started trying to blame some guy whose shift had just started (awesome coworker, right?) and pulled a lukewarm, half smashed burger out of some unknown place behind the counter. He then told the guy just starting that I needed medium fries. I corrected him, I had ordered large. The guy got an attitude, said "actually it was medium, but give him a large anyway." :mad:

So, when I got home, I decided to do their survey. I don't like giving bad surveys, but they earned this one, and if management cares (what are the chances?) then they should have the chance to correct it.

The survey asks that if you had a bad experience, to describe it as specifically as lossible. So I do that. I try to submit it, and I get a popup that tells me to use 1,200 characters or less. I put my write up into a word counter and I'm at 4,000. I take out any and all extra verbosity. Still about 3,500. I start taking out the date and time stamps. I start taking out details. Then more details. Then information that actually describes what some of the problems were. By the time I get down to 1,200, it basically says "service was slow, employees were rude." That doesn't sound very specific, does it?
 
Brian Alex said:
https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Introduction.html.
Unless I am just going senile, I don't see a date anywhere on this article.
Click to expand...
That's right, there is no proper copyright or date. However, with most static pages you can extract it from their www server:
Code: 
$ curl -sI https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/_sources/Introduction.rst.txt | grep -i '^last-modified:'
last-modified: Wed, 22 Jan 2025 16:00:03 GMT
Latest version of the introduction document itself has not been modified since January 2025. Main index page has been modified in January 2026 though. Someone updates it from time to time. It's volunteer-driven project.
 
I'm not sure if this is a 'pet peeve' or if I'm just annoyed.

First, let me state that I do not dislike modern automobiles. It's quite the opposite (generally speaking). They say, "They don't build them like they used to!" And, well, I agree. Where I disagree is that not building them like they used to is a good thing.

Someone will point to some '68 GT 350 and say, "See?!?" And I'll point out that that's 'survivorship bias' and mention that there are a million other Mustangs that rusted away in junkyards after their engines hit 80,000 miles.

Someone will say, "You can't work on your own cars today!" And I'll suggest that they upgrade their tools and skills, while agreeing that there are parts of that statement that are true. For example, some parts need to be coded to the vehicle, and that requires an expensive computer that they don't sell to the public. In many cases, those are already 'hacked,' and you can get it done by a third party.

Anyhow...

I have a '26 C8 ZR1. I took it out for a drive this morning. I had to go into the village for something small, so I drove it again this afternoon. The car has about 380 miles on it.

Whelp... On my way back from the village, the HUD died. No amount of button pressing or restarting turned the HUD back on.

In theory, I could probably fix it. In reality, I'm not doing that. I'm not even paying to have it done. Tearing the dashboard apart is not on my list of things I want to do.

I'm also not going to drive it to the dealer. After repeating myself a few times, they'll be here tomorrow morning with a trailer. They can take it back to the dealership and fix it. That's what a warranty is for.

Other than that, it's an amazing car. It won't let me do much with it until I hit 1500 miles. It forces it. You can't even rev it up past 4,000 RPM until you hit the 1500 mile marker. (It's the engine's break-in period. This is normal, but the C8 enforces it.)

So, yeah, I guess it's a pet peeve.

I don't like it when the little things break when it's still a new product. I get it, they're pushing engineering to the limits. However, they've had HUD available since like 1999. I'd be less annoyed if something major had gone wrong with it. Heck, I'd probably laugh if a piston had decided to make a hole in the block. But, no... It's something stupidly mundane that they should have perfected at this point.

And, no, that hasn't changed my thoughts on the matter. Modern cars are (generally speaking) leaps and bounds better than old cars. I know... I've owned a whole lot of old cars. People just have rose-colored glasses and get confused by survivorship bias.

To be clear, the car runs and drives just fine. The only thing that broke was the HUD.
 

Automotive head-up display​



An automotive head-up display, also known as an automotive heads-up display or auto-HUD, is a transparent display that presents data in an automobile without requiring a driver to look away from their usual viewpoint. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments Continued in Wikipedia
 
There are far too many grumps to list but I've learned to subdue most of them for a more contented life. These days I rarely get angry about modernity except automated 'customer support' lines designed to wind people up for 20 minutes.
 
Caz said:
I was at the store today, when I was done I decided to walk over to a burger restaurant to get something to eat. I stood at the counter waiting for somone to help me for about ten minutes. I know what you're thinking, "they wanted you to give up and use the kosk." My friend, there was no kiosk. "Okay, but were they busy?" No. There was one car in the drive through and two customers inside, who already had their food. "Maybe they didn't see you." No fewer than four employees looked at me without helping me, greeting me, acknowledging me, or looking me in the eye. A fifth employee (FIFTH!) walked up to the register, did something on it, and then walked away before someone finally said they would be with me soon. While I was ordering, the guy who had lolligagged on the register talked over me so that I had to repeat myself to the person taking my order.

I waited ten more minutes, and no one had called my order. I walked up to the counter, and someone who had come in after me was getting their food. They guy who had taken my order asked if I wanted dessert, I told him no, I hadn't gotten my food yet. He started trying to blame some guy whose shift had just started (awesome coworker, right?) and pulled a lukewarm, half smashed burger out of some unknown place behind the counter. He then told the guy just starting that I needed medium fries. I corrected him, I had ordered large. The guy got an attitude, said "actually it was medium, but give him a large anyway." :mad:

So, when I got home, I decided to do their survey. I don't like giving bad surveys, but they earned this one, and if management cares (what are the chances?) then they should have the chance to correct it.

The survey asks that if you had a bad experience, to describe it as specifically as lossible. So I do that. I try to submit it, and I get a popup that tells me to use 1,200 characters or less. I put my write up into a word counter and I'm at 4,000. I take out any and all extra verbosity. Still about 3,500. I start taking out the date and time stamps. I start taking out details. Then more details. Then information that actually describes what some of the problems were. By the time I get down to 1,200, it basically says "service was slow, employees were rude." That doesn't sound very specific, does it?
Click to expand...
I don't know why but I laughed more at this post than most of the Joke Thread posts.
"...it basically says "service was slow, employees were rude." Good comedic timing. This should be moved to the joke thread.
 
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