Minor things that bother you

[Scott5114]

3) Something like Reddit takes time to grow. Either it's something with an already established presence and appears "easy to find" in searches, there's no real roadgeek sub-reddit ("sub" for short, think of it as a sub-forum) which has gained any sort of interest. That's not to say transportation discussion does not occur, but it usually goes into specific areas ("Spotted on the road" or "Trains" or in a something specific topic in a a state/city/area subreddit because everyone likes to complain about their traffic).

The other problem with Reddit is that because it's a one-stop-shop for forums, any roadgeek-adjacent sub is accessible to "normies". There's a "road signs" sub that I posted in a few times, but ended up dropping out of because it's full of people posting things like ordinary plain-vanilla non-designable MUTCD signs with nothing interesting about them (other than perhaps being less common than other MUTCD signs), whereas if you post something that's truly interesting it gets no traction because nobody has the depth of knowledge to understand why it's unusual.

Another issue is that the Reddit karma system is fairly good at burying troll and spam posts, but because a post starts with a karma score of 1, it only takes two downvotes to get a post to negative karma. I believe that's the cutoff where a post gets hidden on most subs. That means if you post something mildly controversial and the first two people to see it don't like it, you're basically just talking to a wall.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Why are laptops becoming ancient boomer technology? I wanted to watch a live stream on a news website. The website gave a list of options, including "watch on your mobile device" and an assortment of smart TV options, but "watch on laptop" was not an option. Enshittificaiton is dumb.

[formulanone]

Roadgeekery predates the Internet.

Okay, but we're not talking about writing letters to the newspaper.

[Rothman]

Roadgeekery predates the Internet.

Okay, but we're not talking about writing letters to the newspaper.

Neither am I.

[Max Rockatansky]

My dad's scrap photo albums of road stuff from the 1970s through the 1990s is sitting somewhere at my sister's house in Florida.  For him the way he used to describe things was that he just really enjoyed roads and driving.  The stuff he did back then is something that would be definitely classified as what people here refer to as "roadgeek activity."  When I was a kid it just made seemed normal to me because we both were really into cars and racing. 

Me personally, I've always been pretty uncomfortable adding "geek" to any activity that I partake in.  That term along with "nerd" had some pretty negative connotations when I was growing up.  I know it isn't 1988 anymore but it still pops into my mind when I see "roadgeek" typed out. 

Speaking for myself most of my participation in this hobby is pretty deeply rooted in my love for driving.  There lots of other road based activities that I partake that aren't exactly what people here would probably classify as "roadgeek."

[formulanone]

3) Something like Reddit takes time to grow. Either it's something with an already established presence and appears "easy to find" in searches, there's no real roadgeek sub-reddit ("sub" for short, think of it as a sub-forum) which has gained any sort of interest. That's not to say transportation discussion does not occur, but it usually goes into specific areas ("Spotted on the road" or "Trains" or in a something specific topic in a a state/city/area subreddit because everyone likes to complain about their traffic).

The other problem with Reddit is that because it's a one-stop-shop for forums, any roadgeek-adjacent sub is accessible to "normies". There's a "road signs" sub that I posted in a few times, but ended up dropping out of because it's full of people posting things like ordinary plain-vanilla non-designable MUTCD signs with nothing interesting about them (other than perhaps being less common than other MUTCD signs), whereas if you post something that's truly interesting it gets no traction because nobody has the depth of knowledge to understand why it's unusual.

Another issue is that the Reddit karma system is fairly good at burying troll and spam posts, but because a post starts with a karma score of 1, it only takes two downvotes to get a post to negative karma. I believe that's the cutoff where a post gets hidden on most subs. That means if you post something mildly controversial and the first two people to see it don't like it, you're basically just talking to a wall.

Someone really has to post a turd of a statement for me to bother downvoting anything on Reddit. I just skip over it 99.9% of the time. I don't bother just because I disagree with someone or don't find an opinion to make any sense, because maybe I'm just missing a lot of context and disagreement is just part of discussion anyhow, unless one is vehemently trolling.

[Scott5114]

Why are laptops becoming ancient boomer technology?

3) Something like Reddit takes time to grow. Either it's something with an already established presence and appears "easy to find" in searches, there's no real roadgeek sub-reddit ("sub" for short, think of it as a sub-forum) which has gained any sort of interest. That's not to say transportation discussion does not occur, but it usually goes into specific areas ("Spotted on the road" or "Trains" or in a something specific topic in a a state/city/area subreddit because everyone likes to complain about their traffic).

The other problem with Reddit is that because it's a one-stop-shop for forums, any roadgeek-adjacent sub is accessible to "normies". There's a "road signs" sub that I posted in a few times, but ended up dropping out of because it's full of people posting things like ordinary plain-vanilla non-designable MUTCD signs with nothing interesting about them (other than perhaps being less common than other MUTCD signs), whereas if you post something that's truly interesting it gets no traction because nobody has the depth of knowledge to understand why it's unusual.

Another issue is that the Reddit karma system is fairly good at burying troll and spam posts, but because a post starts with a karma score of 1, it only takes two downvotes to get a post to negative karma. I believe that's the cutoff where a post gets hidden on most subs. That means if you post something mildly controversial and the first two people to see it don't like it, you're basically just talking to a wall.

Someone really has to post a turd of a statement for me to bother downvoting anything on Reddit. I just skip over it 99.9% of the time. I don't bother just because I disagree with someone or don't find an opinion to make any sense, because maybe I'm just missing a lot of context and disagreement is just part of discussion anyhow, unless one is vehemently trolling.

Would that everyone exercised such restraint. I've received enough static in the form of downvotes and snotty replies to posts which I would consider fairly banal that I've considered just going read-only.

[kphoger]

I've always been pretty uncomfortable adding "geek" to any activity that I partake in.  That term along with "nerd" had some pretty negative connotations when I was growing up.  I know it isn't 1988 anymore but it still pops into my mind when I see "roadgeek" typed out.

The way I see it, anybody's fascination with any given topic is geeky.  People who are hardcore into football are just geeks of a different sort.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've always been pretty uncomfortable adding "geek" to any activity that I partake in.  That term along with "nerd" had some pretty negative connotations when I was growing up.  I know it isn't 1988 anymore but it still pops into my mind when I see "roadgeek" typed out.

The way I see it, anybody's fascination with any given topic is geeky.  People who are hardcore into football are just geeks of a different sort.

Yes, I would acknowledge that tracks with the modern usage of the word "geek."

[JayhawkCO]

I've always been pretty uncomfortable adding "geek" to any activity that I partake in.  That term along with "nerd" had some pretty negative connotations when I was growing up.  I know it isn't 1988 anymore but it still pops into my mind when I see "roadgeek" typed out.

The way I see it, anybody's fascination with any given topic is geeky.  People who are hardcore into football are just geeks of a different sort.

Yes, I would acknowledge that tracks with the modern usage of the word "geek."

You mean being an afficionado of various niche topics doesn't also mean you bite heads off of live chickens?

[kphoger]

"Nerd", on the other hand, requires a self-awareness that one is not "cool" or "normal" and to be OK with that.  I, for one, am OK with that.

I've also come to realize that it's only a small minority of people who are "normal".  Most people are pretty weird in some way or another.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've always been pretty uncomfortable adding "geek" to any activity that I partake in.  That term along with "nerd" had some pretty negative connotations when I was growing up.  I know it isn't 1988 anymore but it still pops into my mind when I see "roadgeek" typed out.

The way I see it, anybody's fascination with any given topic is geeky.  People who are hardcore into football are just geeks of a different sort.

Yes, I would acknowledge that tracks with the modern usage of the word "geek."

You mean being an afficionado of various niche topics doesn't also mean you bite heads off of live chickens?

Do geeks and nerds typically bite the heads off of live poultry?  I could see maybe old school goths at least making unverifiable claims that they did stuff like that. 

[kphoger]

You mean being an afficionado of various niche topics doesn't also mean you bite heads off of live chickens?

The non-chicken meaning of the word 'geek' has been around longer than you and I have been alive.

https://genius.com/Freddie-blassie-pencil-neck-geek-lyrics
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0662374/

[Max Rockatansky]

"Nerd", on the other hand, requires a self-awareness that one is not "cool" or "normal" and to be OK with that.  I, for one, am OK with that.

I've also come to realize that it's only a small minority of people who are "normal".  Most people are pretty weird in some way or another.

See, I've always viewed "nerd" and "geek" generally as describing a very similar (if not the same) thing.

At one of the road meets an attendee once told me that I was the "most normal" road person he had met.  I thought it was pretty amusing to hear that given that I've never once considered myself as a baseline for what a "normal person" might be.

[kphoger]

I've always viewed "nerd" and "geek" generally as describing a very similar (if not the same) thing.

I think that's how I grew up using the words (interchangeably), but it's not how I understand 'geek' these days.

[Big John]

"Nerd", on the other hand, requires a self-awareness that one is not "cool" or "normal" and to be OK with that.  I, for one, am OK with that.

I've also come to realize that it's only a small minority of people who are "normal".  Most people are pretty weird in some way or another.

I say a normal person has 2.3 children.

[Max Rockatansky]

"Nerd", on the other hand, requires a self-awareness that one is not "cool" or "normal" and to be OK with that.  I, for one, am OK with that.

I've also come to realize that it's only a small minority of people who are "normal".  Most people are pretty weird in some way or another.

I say a normal person has 2.3 children.

They have to have a white picket fence and a dog also.

[hbelkins]

It took my discovery of MTR, Jim Lin's route marker gallery and James Sterbenz' US highways pages for me to know that I wasn't alone in my roadgeekery/road fandom/whatever you want to call it.

"Nerd", on the other hand, requires a self-awareness that one is not "cool" or "normal" and to be OK with that.  I, for one, am OK with that.

I've also come to realize that it's only a small minority of people who are "normal".  Most people are pretty weird in some way or another.

I say a normal person has 2.3 children.

They have to have a white picket fence and a dog also.

[wxfree]

"Nerd", on the other hand, requires a self-awareness that one is not "cool" or "normal" and to be OK with that.  I, for one, am OK with that.

I've also come to realize that it's only a small minority of people who are "normal".  Most people are pretty weird in some way or another.

I say a normal person has 2.3 children.

I wouldn't consider it normal to have any fraction of a child. (other than a fraction that equals 1)

[kphoger]

I say a normal person has 2.3 children.

I wouldn't consider it normal to have any fraction of a child. (other than a fraction that equals 1)

Agreed.  I've never met anyone with 2.3 children and, if I did, then I would consider that person to be abnormal.

[Big John]

I was trying to get to the point that I know I am not normal and if you think you're normal, you are not.

[Max Rockatansky]

I was trying to get to the point that I know I am not normal and if you think you're normal, you are not.

And you think you aren't normal, then you are?

[elsmere241]

I was trying to get to the point that I know I am not normal and if you think you're normal, you are not.

When I was nineteen it hit me that I just wanted to be at least more normal than I was at the time.

[formulanone]

I say a normal person has 2.3 children.

I wouldn't consider it normal to have any fraction of a child. (other than a fraction that equals 1)

Agreed.  I've never met anyone with 2.3 children and, if I did, then I would consider that person to be abnormal.

Spare parts saves on emergency pediatric visits, we get an extra set of textbooks, and our third-of-a-child can automatically and systematically serve in the fractional parliament.

[jeffandnicole]

Why are laptops becoming ancient boomer technology? I wanted to watch a live stream on a news website. The website gave a list of options, including "watch on your mobile device" and an assortment of smart TV options, but "watch on laptop" was not an option. Enshittificaiton is dumb.

And even fewer people have a computer, such as what I'm typing on right now.  Quite a number of coworkers don't have a computer or laptop at home, or even a printer, and just use mobile devices.  I've been quite astounded at that.

It took my discovery of MTR, Jim Lin's route marker gallery and James Sterbenz' US highways pages for me to know that I wasn't alone in my roadgeekery/road fandom/whatever you want to call it.

I've preferred road enthusiast myself.

I don't have any issue with 'geek' per se, but it's hard to convey roadgeek to others that, even if they are geeks for their personal hobbies, that there are some people that actually like roads.

At one of the road meets an attendee once told me that I was the "most normal" road person he had met.  I thought it was pretty amusing to hear that given that I've never once considered myself as a baseline for what a "normal person" might be.

Going thru a hard time at one point where I was trying hard to conversate in a roadgeek group setting, I was told that I was basically a normie. I never told that person that it kinda hurt.  I have a very hard time with personal conversations, and more so with written conversations.  When I've been at a roadgeek activity and see everyone talking with others, I'm often left out since I haven't been able to make the personal connections others have made over the years.  I don't have connections in other areas that would be more 'normal' either.  So I'm just kinda stuck in an area where I'm certainly not normal, but I don't have the normal qualities of a roadgeek either.