Minor things that bother you

[vdeane]

When sports people post about sports outside of the sports board in the sports thread called "minor things that bother you sports edition".

Did I mention anything about sports in my original Taylor Swift post? Nope.

It might not have been you.  There were a gazillion sports posts that were moved out of here at some point in the past three hours.

[webny99]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

[ZLoth]

Online articles which have you scrolling through half of the article to get the actual info you want. Take this example from "The Street":

Popular fast-food chain closing without a bankruptcy filing

Most of the chain's locations have already been shut down and there are plans to close the remaining locations.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

OK, it's a click-bait headline, but to find out the actual fast-food chain, I must scroll past six headlines and go to the subsection titled "Another fast-food brand going away" to find out it's a Michigan fast-food chain called "Bagger Dave's" which "operates locations in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio" and "once operated 28 stores".

[hbelkins]

Online articles which have you scrolling through half of the article to get the actual info you want. Take this example from "The Street":

Popular fast-food chain closing without a bankruptcy filing

Most of the chain's locations have already been shut down and there are plans to close the remaining locations.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

OK, it's a click-bait headline, but to find out the actual fast-food chain, I must scroll past six headlines and go to the subsection titled "Another fast-food brand going away" to find out it's a Michigan fast-food chain called "Bagger Dave's" which "operates locations in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio" and "once operated 28 stores".

That's one of the worst sites. And the Lexington Herald-Leader website uses a ton of stories from that site. With click-baity headlines.

[J N Winkler]

That's one of the worst sites. And the Lexington Herald-Leader website uses a ton of stories from that site. With click-baity headlines.

The Wichita Eagle likewise relies heavily on TheStreet.com for filler content.  It's nearly all Captain Obvious garbage, and about 90% of it sounds like it has been AI-generated.  This, I feel, is one of many symptoms of the decline of local journalism.

[SectorZ]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

I don't get it, would you rather them charge more to waste paper?

[JayhawkCO]

Online articles which have you scrolling through half of the article to get the actual info you want. Take this example from "The Street":

Popular fast-food chain closing without a bankruptcy filing

Most of the chain's locations have already been shut down and there are plans to close the remaining locations.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

OK, it's a click-bait headline, but to find out the actual fast-food chain, I must scroll past six headlines and go to the subsection titled "Another fast-food brand going away" to find out it's a Michigan fast-food chain called "Bagger Dave's" which "operates locations in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio" and "once operated 28 stores".

Similar to this, every online recipe that has the history of food for 2,000 words before they actually get to the recipe itself.

[webny99]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

I don't get it, would you rather them charge more to waste paper?

I would rather them email and not use paper at all, but if that is not possible, it's cheap and unprofessional not to use a full sheet of paper. If they are concerned about the "waste" of a sheet of paper that costs a penny or two at most being less than 100% full, that convinces me even more that they aren't to be taken seriously.

[kphoger]

every online recipe that has the history of food for 2,000 words before they actually get to the recipe itself.

And aren't you shocked to find out that the author's husband just loves this dish!

[kphoger]

"YouTube Music is a music app . . . made by YouTube."

no shit?

[Rothman]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

I don't get it, would you rather them charge more to waste paper?

I would rather them email and not use paper at all, but if that is not possible, it's cheap and unprofessional not to use a full sheet of paper. If they are concerned about the "waste" of a sheet of paper that costs a penny or two at most being less than 100% full, that convinces me even more that they aren't to be taken seriously.

The quality and price of their product or service should probably come into consideration in judging a business.

[webny99]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

I don't get it, would you rather them charge more to waste paper?

I would rather them email and not use paper at all, but if that is not possible, it's cheap and unprofessional not to use a full sheet of paper. If they are concerned about the "waste" of a sheet of paper that costs a penny or two at most being less than 100% full, that convinces me even more that they aren't to be taken seriously.

The quality and price of their product or service should probably come into consideration in judging a business.

No kidding, and invoicing is an essential component of that.

[J N Winkler]

Regarding the format of bills and invoices:  my preference is for something I can file with minimum trouble.

I'm really uncomfortable accepting stuff electronically because there are just too many ways to manipulate presentation so that the substantive material (the payload) is unreasonably difficult to retain locally.  It's actually easier for me to file a paper bill from my credit card provider (however sized) than it is for me to log in to their website (requires two-factor authentication, so it's not easily scriptable) and download the PDF.

If an email comes in that just gives links to the information on a website instead of including it as an attachment, I do not consider myself to have been "sent" the substantive content, since it never actually lands in my inbox.  Similarly, I really dislike the use of the word "email" for communication modalities that require the recipient to log in to a portal to read what is essentially a private message.  Again, the payload never lands in my inbox.

[ZLoth]

I just download my statements and store them on my file server locally which then backs up encrypted to a cloud service. Especially my mortgage statements.

[Rothman]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

I don't get it, would you rather them charge more to waste paper?

I would rather them email and not use paper at all, but if that is not possible, it's cheap and unprofessional not to use a full sheet of paper. If they are concerned about the "waste" of a sheet of paper that costs a penny or two at most being less than 100% full, that convinces me even more that they aren't to be taken seriously.

The quality and price of their product or service should probably come into consideration in judging a business.

No kidding, and invoicing is an essential component of that.

Nah.

[gonealookin]

Also, and I'm looking at several people on this forum.... nested quotes. Can you exercise some editing discretion and cut out all but the most relevant pieces of the comment you are quoting?

I've been asking that for 10+ years now, but it's just shouting into the void.

If I could also shout into the void for a moment...at least delete any embedded photos so they don't get reposted over and over, and particularly when said photos are originally posted at resolution 6000 x 3390 (having just come over here from the "airport terminal expansion" thread).

[kkt]

I just download my statements and store them on my file server locally which then backs up encrypted to a cloud service. Especially my mortgage statements.

How very organized of you.  I would glance at my paper statements, see my last payment was credited, and then let it sit on my desk for six months, and then throw it away with the other ones.

[formulanone]

• Companies that issue bills/invoices on half-sheets of paper. I cannot take you seriously.

Perhaps they use perforated paper so that it duplicates in half the processing time (although splitting the paper takes more time than waiting for the second ply...and the cost of perforated 2-up paper is a little bit more). But, it's slightly less wasteful and a little easier to handle.

I work with parts departments which do that all the time, because the average counter ticket has maybe 2-5 lines of parts on it, so it can definitely fit on 4-5 inches of paper, sone the header and totals are figured in.

[webny99]

Regarding the format of bills and invoices:  my preference is for something I can file with minimum trouble.

For personal filing, a half-sheet may be fileable with minimum trouble, but for anyone dealing with a large volume of paperwork, a half-sheet is the equivalent of a toddler on the loose in Walmart on Black Friday.

Perhaps they use perforated paper so that it duplicates in half the processing time (although splitting the paper takes more time than waiting for the second ply...and the cost of perforated 2-up paper is a little bit more). But, it's slightly less wasteful and a little easier to handle.

I work with parts departments which do that all the time, because the average counter ticket has maybe 2-5 lines of parts on it, so it can definitely fit on 4-5 inches of paper, sone the header and totals are figured in.

I would think perforated/self-duplicating paper could also be used in full sheets, though I really don't have an issue with the use of half-sheets in certain circumstances if a full sheet isn't needed. I just don't think invoicing a customer is ever one of those circumstances where it's appropriate. I've quite frequently seen half-sheets used as reciepts or packing tickets because those may be filled in by hand, but issuing an invoice on a half-sheet - especially for a business-to-business transaction - is grounds for a side-eye in 2024.

[kphoger]

Also, and I'm looking at several people on this forum.... nested quotes. Can you exercise some editing discretion and cut out all but the most relevant pieces of the comment you are quoting?

I've been asking that for 10+ years now, but it's just shouting into the void.

If I could also shout into the void for a moment...at least delete any embedded photos so they don't get reposted over and over, and particularly when said photos are originally posted at resolution 6000 x 3390 (having just come over here from the "airport terminal expansion" thread).

That's why, when I quote a post with a picture in it, I generally change the height and width tags, to make the picture smaller.

[kphoger]

Microsoft Teams.  I mean, I don't like it in general, but that's not what I'm talking about.  It's that the program decides on its own every so often that I must want it open on my computer.  Every few weeks, I'll open up the computer in the morning, and there it is:  no other programs open, because I shut them all down at the end of the day.  Just this morning, I needed to go into the Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer to fix a glitch.  When it restarted, yep! there was Microsoft Teams opened up.

No.  If I want a program open, then I'll open it.  That's the way it works.

[1995hoo]

Microsoft Teams.  I mean, I don't like it in general, but that's not what I'm talking about.  It's that the program decides on its own every so often that I must want it open on my computer.  Every few weeks, I'll open up the computer in the morning, and there it is:  no other programs open, because I shut them all down at the end of the day.  Just this morning, I needed to go into the Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer to fix a glitch.  When it restarted, yep! there was Microsoft Teams opened up.

No.  If I want a program open, then I'll open it.  That's the way it works.

Heh. My work PC opens Teams automatically, but I don't mind it doing so there because it's one of our most-used pieces of software for in-office communication and file management such that it would be the first thing I open in the morning anyway. On my home PC, I agree with you, other than as to things I've designated to run automatically like security software.

[kphoger]

Microsoft Teams.  I mean, I don't like it in general, but that's not what I'm talking about.  It's that the program decides on its own every so often that I must want it open on my computer.  Every few weeks, I'll open up the computer in the morning, and there it is:  no other programs open, because I shut them all down at the end of the day.  Just this morning, I needed to go into the Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer to fix a glitch.  When it restarted, yep! there was Microsoft Teams opened up.

No.  If I want a program open, then I'll open it.  That's the way it works.

Heh. My work PC opens Teams automatically, but I don't mind it doing so there because it's one of our most-used pieces of software for in-office communication and file management such that it would be the first thing I open in the morning anyway. On my home PC, I agree with you, other than as to things I've designated to run automatically like security software.

This is my work computer.  And I never use Teams.

The other day, one of my contacts over at the MSO requested that we communicate via Teams instead of by phone.  So I figured out how to open it up on purpose and connect with him.  He typed that he couldn't hear me.  I replied that my computer doesn't have a mic.  He replied that my boss needs to buy me a new computer, and then we talked by phone anyway.

[JayhawkCO]

My "can't kill it" software thing is that I hate when I have a forced reboot of my work laptop and then Edge and the Microsoft Store get pinned to my taskbar again, despite me not using either of them ever.

[webny99]

My beef with Teams is that it started asking me to switch to the new Teams. So I did, and then it started constantly asking if I want to switch back. I finally decided that yes, I do want to switch back, just so that I don't have to keep being asked. But what was the point of new Teams if you want everyone to switch back anyways? Nothing like flunking the rollout of a new product by admitting that the original is better anyways.