Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[Cambrian359]

Excessive adverts.

I might not bother with an adblocker if adverts weren't so intrusive. Local news websites are awful for it; many of them are barely navigable on mobile devices because the sheer number and placement of ads mean you can't fit a whole paragraph into the remaining space. Because there's a video in the top left and an unclosable flashing banner ad at the bottom and like 50 ads in the main panel, the page becomes unresponsive and laggy.

On the BBC Good Food website, without an adblocker, you get these banner ads taking up the entire whitespace to the left and right of the centre content. They're sometimes animated, and means there's about 50% of the whole page set so that if you accidentally click there, it opens an advert's site in a new tab.

Then you've got the stupid navigation interference, where when you click the 'back' button, it simply jumps to another part of the page showing other articles. You have to click/tap back 3 or 4 times on some sites to get off the page.

Autoplaying video adverts with audio enabled by default.

Do you accept cookies? Here's a big green 'accept all' button, but if you want to only essential cookies you have to toggle 20 sliders to turn off the rest of the cookies.

Do you want to enable push notifications?

Sign up to our newsletter?

Click this popup to download our mobile app.

Also hilariously large untargetted ads - for context, I am male, neither me nor my partner are pregnant. I appreciate this is because I normally use an extension which blocks tracking cookies, but you'd think for a full-page advert you might choose something more generic! This part of the page is basically 95% adverts.

View attachment 183473

This post should win post of the year!

 

[nlogax]

With the more recent addition of the smell of ‘jazzy cigarettes’ on every street corner in midtown Manhattan.

And much of North America in general. Downtown Vancouver was the absolute worst I've experienced.

 

[D6130]

And much of North America in general. Downtown Vancouver was the absolute worst I've experienced.

Have you ever been to Hebden Bridge on a Friday or Saturday evening?

 

[nlogax]

Have you ever been to Hebden Bridge on a Friday or Saturday evening?

Well..same for parts of Glasgow tbf!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

On the BBC Good Food website, without an adblocker, you get these banner ads taking up the entire whitespace to the left and right of the centre content. They're sometimes animated, and means there's about 50% of the whole page set so that if you accidentally click there, it opens an advert's site in a new tab.

You're in the UK, so you shouldn't be getting any adverts on the BBC website - you haven't inadvertently saved bbc com instead of bbc co uk have you, by any chance?



Which leads me to banning:

Websites which default to the wrong location for the user.

 

[styles]

You're in the UK, so you shouldn't be getting any adverts on the BBC website - you haven't inadvertently saved bbc com instead of bbc co uk have you, by any chance?



Which leads me to banning:

Websites which default to the wrong location for the user.

The BBC Good Food website has adverts on it regardless of which country you visit from. Though I think they dropped the BBC branding last year.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The BBC Good Food website has adverts on it regardless of which country you visit from. Though I think they dropped the BBC branding last year.

Ah... so it's no longer part of the BBC?

 

[styles]

Ah... so it's no longer part of the BBC?

No. Not to be confused with BBC Food, which is

 

[Peter Mugridge]

No. Not to be confused with BBC Food, which is

I hereby ban confusing website names.

 

[styles]

I hereby ban confusing website names.

What like calling a website RailUK Forums, but making the logo just Rf or the domain Rail forums?

 

[dcbwhaley]

Excessive adverts.

I might not bother with an adblocker if adverts weren't so intrusive. Local news websites are awful for it; many of them are barely navigable on mobile devices because the sheer number and placement of ads mean you can't fit a whole paragraph into the remaining space. Because there's a video in the top left and an unclosable flashing banner ad at the bottom and like 50 ads in the main panel, the page becomes unresponsive and laggy.

It has always puzzled me why advertisers think that irritating people will endear them to their product.

 

[bleeder4]

I have my browser set to disable javascript for my local news website, which works a treat. Stops all their subscription invite pop-ups, stops all the ads from showing, means I can view an article in peace with nothing getting in the way, plus makes the website super-fast as it's not having to load so much crap.

 

[Gloster]

Middle-aged or elderly gentlemen who have been told by their wife to stand at a specific point in a supermarket and will not budge until she returns. “But my wife wants me to wait here”’ is, in my book, no excuse for ignoring a polite request to move as you and your trolley are completely blocking access to the cheeses/bread/pasta/etc.

(Or the woman who, when I asked her to move so that I could get at the Port Salut cheese, said, “I don’t know why you are eating that rubbish”. She did move, though.)

 

[styles]

Middle-aged or elderly gentlemen who have been told by their wife to stand at a specific point in a supermarket and will not budge until she returns. “But my wife wants me to wait here”’ is, in my book, no excuse for ignoring a polite request to move as you and your trolley are completely blocking access to the cheeses/bread/pasta/etc.

(Or the woman who, when I asked her to move so that I could get at the Port Salut cheese, said, “I don’t know why you are eating that rubbish”. She did move, though.)

Reminds me of COVID-19 stricter lockdown times, when supermarkets had one-way systems.

I had cause to go to Iceland (the shop), which I don't really enjoy at the best of times. I'd gone around halfway round the shop in a clearly-signed one-way system, and somebody 'in front' of me wanted to go back to get something.

Bear in mind the context - this was an early lockdown when we didn't know how COVID-19 spread, I had an immunocompromised person living at home, etc. I suggested she just skips the frozen Greggs steak bake she wanted, or finish the shop as normal, then do a quick whizz back round to grab the pasties and pay a second time. Appreciate it wasn't convenient, but the aisles in Iceland are already narrow and designed to create an unofficial one-way system as it is, and there were maybe 3 people behind me she'd have to get close to to get back to the Greggs section at the entrance. She huffed a bit and gave up pretty quickly, but gave some snarky remark after checking out, like, "Oh I've got to go all the round again now as well!"

If it were me, I'd have just passed on the steak bakes that week, unless the queue to get in again was short then I'd have just gone round quickly once more.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Reminds me of COVID-19 stricter lockdown times, when supermarkets had one-way systems.

On that note, I'll ban nonsensical use of the social distancing tape and signs. Attached photos I took at the time -
Did we  really need so many instructions on a single door?
Tape was applied on floors in ways that made a mockery of "distancing". We had to be the size of a squirrel for this one.

 

[styles]

On that note, I'll ban nonsensical use of the social distancing tape and signs. Attached photos I took at the time -
Did we  really need so many instructions on a single door?
Tape was applied on floors in ways that made a mockery of "distancing". We had to be the size of a squirrel for this one.

Some of it was ridiculous.

In our local corner shop, the owner switched to using gloves to handle food (they get fresh bakery stuff, some salad, etc). But when I went in, his gloves looked a little saggy like they'd been on for a while, and he was on his mobile phone. He finished the call, then went back to arranging the lettuce and cucumbers with the same gloves. Then when I went to pay he was behind the counter wearing the same pair of gloves.

If you're not going to change your gloves between different activities like handling food, cash, tills, etc; you're better off not bothering.

 

[Indigo Soup]

It has always puzzled me why advertisers think that irritating people will endear them to their product.

They all (presumably) know people find their adverts irritating. But if they make theirs less irritating, the result will be that they get noticed less. So everyone is incentivised to be at least as irritating as the competition.

It's a similar story as why getting out of the bus and into your car will almost always make your journey time shorter, but makes average journey times longer.

If you're not going to change your gloves between different activities like handling food, cash, tills, etc; you're better off not bothering.

Which is in fact what's taught in food hygiene courses, and why even during the full COVID panic we were being advised not to wear gloves. Our hands feeling dirty is a pretty good cue to wash them. Wearing gloves takes that cue away, and commercial pressures can lead to people being expected to make a single pair of gloves last far too long.

 

[LYRobert]

"Infotainment" in all its intrusive incomprehensible manifestations. These systems are distracting, un-necessary and downright dangerous, taking the driver's attention away from the essential business of driving. I switch 'em off - but it's in the nature of the beast that I have to do this every time I get in the car because they switch themselves on again. They should be illegal. Mobile phone use whilst driving is, but fiddling with the Sat-Nav isn't. Why is that?

 

[styles]

"Infotainment" in all its intrusive incomprehensible manifestations. These systems are distracting, un-necessary and downright dangerous, taking the driver's attention away from the essential business of driving. I switch 'em off - but it's in the nature of the beast that I have to do this every time I get in the car because they switch themselves on again. They should be illegal. Mobile phone use whilst driving is, but fiddling with the Sat-Nav isn't. Why is that?

Using your mobile phone while driving in and of itself isn't unlawful.

Holding and using your mobile phone is.

If your phone is in a cradle, you can 'use' it while driving. You can be pulled up for careless driving if using your phone in a cradle affects your driving, but this is also true of built-in infotainment systems, mounted satnavs, etc.

My main gripe with modern infotainment systems is that the buttons are on-screen rather than physical buttons. This unavoidably results in drivers diverting their sight from the road to use a touchscreen, whereas with physical buttons I can adjust most controls without taking my eyes off the road/mirrors/etc.

 

[dangie]

Electric Hand Dryer’s in public toilets, pubs, restaurants etc….

Some are excellent. Some are pathetically poor.

Some blow cool air at hurricane level to quickly dry your hands. Some blow at furnace temperature at a gentle whisper which either takes ages or blisters your skin in seconds. Some blow for a sufficient time, some blow for two seconds then require frantic waving of the hands to restart them.

I often wonder if those who design & manufacture these products actually use them, or at least compare them with others on the market.

 

[styles]

Electric Hand Dryer’s in public toilets, pubs, restaurants etc….

Some are excellent. Some are pathetically poor.

Some blow cool air at hurricane level to quickly dry your hands. Some blow at furnace temperature at a gentle whisper which either takes ages or blisters your skin in seconds. Some blow for a sufficient time, some blow for two seconds then require frantic waving of the hands to restart them.

I often wonder if those who design & manufacture these products actually use them, or at least compare them with others on the market.

I'm sure I've heard that these are basically unhygienic as they blow the water everywhere. A simple paper towel, from a dispenser which can be used without using your hand to dispense the paper, is basically ideal. I haven't verified any such claims but they would make sense to me.

Some of them irk me because, regardless of temperature, they blow so hard that the water transfers from my hands to my clothing, even if only in relatively small amounts.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Electric Hand Dryer’s in public toilets, pubs, restaurants etc….

Some are excellent. Some are pathetically poor.

Some blow cool air at hurricane level to quickly dry your hands. Some blow at furnace temperature at a gentle whisper which either takes ages or blisters your skin in seconds. Some blow for a sufficient time, some blow for two seconds then require frantic waving of the hands to restart them.

Totally agree. I do get, perhaps irrationally, frustrated by poor hand dryers.

I often wonder if those who design & manufacture these products actually use them, or at least compare them with others on the market.

On this point though, to be fair, I don't think the "bad" hand dryers are designed that way deliberately. I think it's often a case of businesses trying to save a few quid and buying a cheaper option which simply isn't heavy duty enough for their needs and thus various components fail.

 

[styles]

On this point though, to be fair, I don't think the "bad" hand dryers are designed that way deliberately. I think it's often a case of businesses trying to save a few quid and buying a cheaper option which simply isn't heavy duty enough for their needs and thus various components fail.

On the contrary, I find even those Dyson superblaster 3000 dryers annoying and sub-par to a paper towel.

 

[Lewisham2221]

(Predominantly older) people who almost habitually insist on closing the windows on the bus (or train), despite the weather conditions

 

[gg1]

People of any age who habitually insist on opening the windows on the bus or train when it's a perfectly comfortable temperature already.

 

[Peter C]

I'd ban the new (to me, at least) feature on YouTube's mobile app which, after an advert has played, displays a box advertising the same product/service/whatever over the video which then has to be dismissed by the user. I think I may have complained on here before about YouTube adverts though so I'll also add me moaning onto my list of things I'd ban!

-Peter

 

[TheSel]

(Predominantly older) people who almost habitually insist on closing the windows on the bus (or train), despite the weather conditions

Very much in that vein, a few years ago I was on an open topped double decker in North Wales, where only the front bay was still covered over - the rest of the top deck being open to the elements.

The bus - an ECW bodied Bristol VR still had opening front windows. Someone (not in the covered section) complained of the draught and insisted that said windows be shut. On an open topper!!!!!

 

[Welly]

Electric Hand Dryer’s in public toilets, pubs, restaurants etc….

Some are excellent. Some are pathetically poor.

Some blow cool air at hurricane level to quickly dry your hands. Some blow at furnace temperature at a gentle whisper which either takes ages or blisters your skin in seconds. Some blow for a sufficient time, some blow for two seconds then require frantic waving of the hands to restart them.

I often wonder if those who design & manufacture these products actually use them, or at least compare them with others on the market.

They also put as much energy into making noise as heating the air! There is one in the toilets at work and the tedious drone can be heard in the break room next door!

 

[TheSel]

They also put as much energy into making noise as heating the air! There is one in the toilets at work and the tedious drone can be heard in the break room next door!

I don't approve of graffiti or other unauthorised signs, but one amused me. By the operating button of a Hand Dryer was written: "Press here for a ten second speech from Keir Starmer".

In the interests of balance, I should add that other politicians' names are available should hot air be your thing.

 

[dangie]

(Predominantly older) people who almost habitually insist on closing the windows on the bus (or train), despite the weather conditions

I basically agree, but find it’s often teenage girls (college age) who tend to close windows. I’ve been on the bus where a girl has been sitting at the rear of the bus and has walked down to near the front just to close one window which was open. As an ’older’ person myself (74) I like windows to be open.