What do you find annoying about some forums?
 

Okay, I hope this doesn't get too heated (?) but what do people dislike seeing in some forums?

For instance, I don't like it when a forum members a massive range of font colours and font styles in their posts, especially with usernames. I quite like consistency and a sort of 'tidy' appearance.

I don't like massive avatars - 100x100 is a nice size. Some forums you might as well ask for a profile picture as an avatar !!

Lastly, I don't like the "last one to post here ..." or "what have you just eaten" type of threads :S.

Your turn .... :D

I hate huge headers, big blocks of ads, "Latest topic" stats, shout boxes, etc all appearing before the actual forums. If you need to scroll down to see your forum categories, you're irritating far more than just me.

I hate installs of vBadvanced. Well, okay, let me clarify a bit.. vBa can actually be used well, but most people don't. Most people make a portal page with two sidebar blocks, a huge welcome message, one or two six - twelve month old news postings, and absolutely no link to their forums except for in a block in the left column..

So you get to their "portal" page and see a basic, pointless install of vBa. Now people who take time with vBa, and actually make a cms or a portal where it makes sense while still offering a decent UI, I don't mind at all.

I hate gaudiness.. How many sites actually need an arcade system? How many sites need vB's default calendar / FAQ? How many sites need to display hundreds of different things in the users "postbit" (that's what profiles are for), etc etc. I hate bloated features, I hate limitations (ie: you must post 5000000 times in order to get private messaging), I hate when admins make a sticky thread in every forum for "rules"..

And last but not least, I hate anal moderators and admins. :)

I hate suppression of FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!
Since just hurts 'unbalanced egos'... brings more benefits than harms...

Do I have to bring out my Freedom of Speech spiel and explain how it doesn't apply unless you're talking about or with the government?

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Anyway, I what I find annoying is sites that do not have any valuable content above the fold. This goes in line with what was said above. If I have to scroll to see my first thread then you have annoyed me. I don't care about shoutboxes, 2 hundred icons and graphics, floating icon docks, rounded corners, etc... give me content and give it to me without forcing me to scroll.

You have just done,what you exactly hate.

Anyway if u find something annoying about a forum u just move on simple as.What you may Dislike may be seen as good to someone else,so why should it be changed just on the view of one person.

i hate sites that simply replicate others, just because "they think they can do better" but at the end, they finish to do the exact same thing, with a plus, they trash the other sites...

oh, the "1 millions posts" threads... how useful to the web...

Pop-up and Pop-under advertisements...

I've probably said nearly everything I'll post here before, because if I can potentially complain about it, I probably would have in the past. But never the less, the things I do not like to see in internet forums:

Attachment 94285

Aka 'You need javascript enabled to view this site'

Seen it a lot on vBulletin forums recently, and it's certainly not a default feature, and I hope the creator of that horrible modification or code gets forever banished from the internet for crimes against usability and website design decency.

I also don't like default anything. Any more default banners, forum icons, smilies, BB code, general icons, forum buttons or colours, and I will probably close the page never to return. Default = bad. I just hate default internet software icons and what not.

Empty forums. You know, 0 posts, 0 threads...

Private forums and login only forums. Unless there's a very good reason for it, don't bother. I also don't like it when a forum is private but you can't even tell from the forum listing. Or join to view replies. Or what not.

Excess of advertising. Pop ups are bad. As are obnoxious flash advertisements.

The username 'admin'. Really, really impersonal in my opinion, and leaves a generally bad or strict impression of board management.

Limitations to the point of insanity. Reminds me of Nsider or Gamefaqs, which is NOT a good thing (for comparison, the latter makes you have to be a member for about two months to use the search system, the latter made you have to be a member and have 1000 posts for a freaking signature)

Alright things that bother me about forums....

For the most part i agree with everything that has been posted

I can't stand those ads that follow me as I scroll across the screens. It feels as if they are trying to shove that ad down my throat.

No music whatsoever playing in the background. I will listen to my own music, instead of being forced to listen the forums music.

The phrase "keep it simple, stupid" applies here. Instead of making a forum that shows everything of the first page, make the forum user friendly. Let the user navigate to where he or she is going to with appropriate titles.

Also with showing recent posts on your home page. Doesn't that defeat the point of the forum. I go to the forum to post and read posts. It seems redundant to have the posts that i can read on a different page. Its like come on! get some different front page material.

To many negative threads on here later.Everyone wants everything to their liking yet if u was to go to their site,you proberly would find something you disliked,but their reply would be `dont like it,move on`.Well thats what u lot should do when you not happy with something.End of day a site is not built around ones persons taste and as such you should respect that.

The site above cheatmaster - ive viewed and it loads fine on my comp so the onus is on you to enable java and not to use his site as an example.Is it the site owners problem because you have not got java enabled ? NO
Solution Switch it or on or stay on sites which dont require it.