Jasn's Rant for Today Vol 739 1/2 -- "To Assume Makes an Ass of U and ME"

I know it's a silly little saying, but it is true to an extent.

Why is it that some members feel the need to ASSUME they know what someone is leaving out of a post and then attempt to fill it in for themselves?


Case in point: I posted a little thread the other day in which I relayed a PERSONAL STORY that happened to me in regards to the way the credit system is screwed up in America. To show you what I mean, let me lay the facts out for you in a very very simplified form.

Built my credit from the day I turned 18 by charging a very small amount and paying it off each month.

Had perfect credit at 22 and lost my job, coincidentally, just after I had to throw a 600 buck charge on my card for a vehicle repair.

As a result, couldn't pay the card for 3 months and my credit took a beating.

Have paid on time since those 3 months and my credit still has not repaired itself in nearly 5 years.


There, that's simple enough to understand right?


Okay then, from there, several people decided to take matters into their own hands and modify the story a bit.

These are a few things they decided to throw in.


I shouldn't spend money on junk I don't need like big screen televisions and fancy cars. (???)

It was my fault because I shouldn't have spent more than I could afford purposely. (apparently I enjoyed fixing my car)

I shouldn't have QUIT my job when I owed money. (don't know where this one came from)

I shouldn't have signed myself into a huge home lease that I wasn't willing to get out of. (??????)

And yes, there are more. However, I don't want to bore you further than I have already with that bunk.


The sad thing is, my case was a very very very mild one in comparison to the assumptions some people make about threads and try to interject as fact.

I have witnessed cases of someone saying they witnessed a strange light outside their home that suddenly turned into that person being abducted, anally probed and forcibly wed to an alien temptress (exaggeration naturally) by these people making assumptions and then stating them as if that was what the OP said.

So why am I agitated about this? They are just idiots, ignore them right?

Well, true and false.

True, they are idiots. False because these idiots can TOTALLY redirect the message of the OP and DESTROY a thread.

A lot of people have a habit of jumping into a long thread here at ATS without actually going through and reading every page of the thread before responding.

In these cases say "Honest Schmoe number 1" jumps into the thread with an open mind and actually looking to contribute.

What he comes upon first (at say, page 7 of the thread) is "Idiot Schmoe number 9"'s post that implies that the OP said he was abducted, probed and forced into a shotgun wedding with an alien devil. As a result, "HS 1" ASSUMES that this is what the OP said and posts in kind.

Now, what you have, is nothing more than a totally derailed thread that has left the OP having to ask people to please go back and read his original post and having to defend himself against statements he never even made.

The original message of the thread has effectively been killed by assumption and lack of initiative on some members' part to actually read for themselves what the OP said.

So what's my point?


Assumption has killed too many threads on ATS. If you are joining and thread and HONESTLY trying to provide some valuable input, please take the time to go and actually READ the entire thread before hitting that reply button.

Just because some moron has submitted a post in which took it upon himself to speak for the OP does NOT mean that he is correctly relaying the OP's message.

Show the OP some courtesy (especially if criticizing) and read his own words before responding directly to them.



Jasn

I hate when this happens as well. I've seen it here as well as a few other forums that I visit.

BTW, sorry about your credit mishap.

-oppdis