I belong to a bunch of forums because I have a lot of interests. We all know what happens in forums.
1. Attack the new guy. Doesn't matter how snotty the old guys are. When a new guy shows up, and he stands up for himself, pile on the abuse and, if possible, get the mods to ban him.
2. No one answers your questions.
3. Snotty people give this answer: "Google is your friend." Like it's a BAD THING when people keep forums going by posting questions. Idiots.
4. People answer a question you didn't ask. "What's the best inexpensive rum for pina coladas?" "I like putting Bud Light in egg nog."
5. People give you stupid answers they should know are stupid and get offended when you don't kiss their feet and swallow their nonsense. "Your tractor doesn't have [insert feature or part]." Well, I'm looking at it right now. "The stop switch on your mower can't be open by default." Ohmmeter says it is, so can you SHUT UP AND QUIT REPEATING YOUR IDIOCY SO SOMEONE ELSE CAN ANSWER? Actually, I wouldn't include that last bit.
6. People restate the obvious. "My headlights don't work, and I've been trying to trace the problem all day." "Have you tried turning the knob on the dashboard?" Yes, I gave up working on my truck and came here in desperation because I have no idea how to turn on my headlights.
7. I love this one: they say, "Do your research." Hello? Posting forum questions is research. Some people only have two brain cells, and those cells have never met.
8. Forum rage. I asked a question on a travel forum, and some nutty woman got mad at me. She started looking up all my posts on the forum and posting nasty remarks about me, warning the other members that I was evil and conversing with me could have dire consequences.
9. Woke authoritarianism. Your posts get deleted for offenses you can't anticipate because you are sane, but deranged leftists can say anything they want to you, and the mods will pile on with them. "I went coon hunting." "My wife is breastfeeding." "We bundled the kids up like Eskimos." You never know when you will trip the wire.
I'm very grateful for all the good advice I've received on forums, but often it's like trying to talk to inmates in an asylum for the criminally insane. It's like talking to spoiled toddlers who will go off and have a Dustin Hoffman/Tom Cruise Judge Wapner fit if you say the wrong thing. You have to humor and baby them to get the information you need without having pablum thrown in your face.
This is especially true of hunting, fishing, Christian, fitness, cooking, electronics, and gun forums. And then there is Practical Machinist, which is a never-ending foodfight among mental cases.
I still can't believe I got banned from a gun forum for debunking Massad Ayoob's unbelievably stupid, dangerous, and uninformed legal advice.
AI, now...that's different. It goes right to the point. It gives you great answers people on forums can't answer. It saves you hours of staring at the monitor. It never insults you. It won't ban you because of its own biases or personality problems. It finds good deals on things you need. It answers questions that leave other people--even experts--stumped.
Sure, it screws up all the time, but you can tell it that it screwed up, and it will usually get it right eventually.
AI is like those kiosks at McDonald's. It puts people out of work, but isn't it better than having pimply kids get your order wrong 80% of the time because they just don't care? Isn't it better than saying "SAUSAGE MCMUFFIN" 38 times?
"I'll have a sausage Mcmuffin and a large black decaf to go."
"Welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?"
"I'll have a sausage McMuffin and a large black decaf to go."
"We're out of McGriddles."
"I'll have a sausage McMuffin and a large black decaf to go."
"One egg McMuffin and an Oreo McFlurry."
"A SAUSAGE MCMUFFIN AND A LARGE BLACK DECAF TO GO."
"Would you like your ten bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits and Chips Ahoy f
rappé for here or to go?"
"Let me talk to the manager."
"Yo soy el managadero. Beinvenido a McDonald's."
Okay, yes, AI is going to be instrumental in destroying the world, but that's going to happen whether I use it or not, so I plan to use it.
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