If I put Ciao here, will I get a crown? (Room 101)

Member Name: DJBorley

Product:	Room 101
Date:	03/02/03 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some of you will agree with my choices

Disadvantages: Some won't

Only kidding about the Ciao thing ;)

Things that should be put in Room 101

This is an op that's written off the cuff. I didn't put a great deal of thought into what I dislike so strongly, as I figured that when I started writing, I'd be able to get a few pet hates down on paper straight away. What I didn't realise is how many things I could quite happily throw through the Room 101 doors! Thankfully, I have cut these down to just six. There are other things that I could quit happily banish from my life, including indigestion, rude people and traffic wardens, but having read and re-read my list, these six will suffice. That's not to say you won't see me adding sequels to this op sooner or later!

* Number One *

Every day I travel down from Chelmsford to London Liverpool Street on the train. The journey itself takes around 35 minutes, and as with most train services around today, the carriages are often crammed, with commuters having to stand the whole journey. God help us all when the weather is bad and they cancel trains, making the journey even worse and causing me to make up phrases like "Battery commuters" (Not with me? Think of Battery hens...) to describe the conditions! (And they have the cheek to put prices up 5% at the start of the year!) However, I am digressing. I can put up with bad train services, but the one thing about my journey into work is when we arrive at Liverpool Street. Depending on whereabouts on the train you stand, you will generally have about a minute or two before you get to the ticket barriers. Please, people, do me a favour? Get your ticket out before you get to the damn barriers! Every single day I see people get right up to the barriers before looking for their tickets, making sure they place themselves in such a position that they block one barrier, and their bag blocks another, and should anyone have the temerity to say anything, they act as if it's a perfectly
ok thing to do. You've had a 35-minute train journey plus a decent sized walk along the platform to get your ticket ready. You're here EVERY DAY, so it's not like you're not expecting the barriers to be there! Sheesh!

* Number Two *

With a little hindsight, this is similar to Number one. How many times have you been pushing a shopping trolley around Tesco, only for some dippy bird to stand bang smack in the middle of the aisle, blocking the path for all and sundry, just because she can't decide on Kenco or Nescafe? Here's a quick tip love. Unless you move that trolley, you may find that I'm upset enough to try and persuade you to take both jars... in suppository form. Should make the scanning at the checkout fun though, shouldn't it?

* Number Three *

As a West Ham fan, I take more than my fair share of stick. If you're not a football fan, then I've no doubt that you still know that, as I write this, West Ham are propping up the Premier League. Losses of 3-0 and 4-0 are not uncommon. Nor is it unusual to lose to the newly promoted teams such as West Brom and the likes. With these losses comes the torment from fans of the other teams. Fair play, as a football fan it's part and parcel of the game. What I can't take is taking stick from fair-weather fans. West Ham lose to Manchester City, and suddenly people I've worked with for years proclaim their allegiance as a Man City fan. Man City? Not so long back you thought that was an ideal holiday location for a single woman! A sudden defeat against Watford and you see people crawling out of the woodwork, yet only last week when you mentioned Watford, they thought you were talking about a car magazine! Fair-weather fans (or Cockney Reds as we seem to refer to most of them down here) - Banish them for eternity please!

* Number Four *

Ever seen this phrase: "Note: Rating an opinion is only possible after the entire op
inion has been read." ? If so, you'll know what it is. If not, then I'll tell you. It's the protection that Ciao has in place to stop people just opening reviews and rating them. It's supposed to make sure that people read the reviews in full before clicking the rating buttons at the bottom. It's a fairly decent system. For a bulk standard op, even if you speed-read it, you still shouldn't get this message as it should still take you sufficient time to finish reading the entire op. However, when our newer members arrive and, unaware of the guidelines for writing an op, type in a few lines which can take no more than a couple of minutes to write, let alone read and rate, when you try to click one of the four Helpful buttons at the bottom of the page, that dreaded message comes up. So you wait a minute or two. Perhaps even read an email before going back and trying to rate again. Yet the message appears again. I know it needs to be there in some form or another, but it can be a blooming pain! Thank God Dooyoo doesn't have the same idea!

* Number Five *

I didn't mean for this article to become a rant at Ciao, but work with me here, ok? You know how, on Ciao, when you write an op, it shows up member and non-member reads? Well, delve a little deeper and you should see who has rated your opinions. I guarantee you that every op you have written will have been rated by less that those who have read it. Now consider this. You take the time to read an op, digesting what it says, perhaps even having your own opinion, but not only do you not make a comment on the op (worth 3 points to yourself, I hasten to add!) but you don't even rate the damn thing? You've done the hard work in reading the article. If you don't want to comment on it, then don't, but at least rate it! It's worth a point to you and up to 6 points for the opinionator. I don't know why this gets my back up, it just does, so I'll m
ove on to my last point before I get over-heated! This is almost as bad as having a negative number of reads at Dooyoo - How can you have -2 non-member reads?

* Number Six *

Manufactured Pop Bands. Not sure who I mean? Ok, any (or should I say all) of the following: One True Voice, Girls Aloud, Will Young, Gareth Gates, Darius, Hear'Say and Liberty X. These have all sprouted up in the past couple of years or so thanks to the PopStars / Pop Idol TV shows. Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate that just about all of the above can sing. I'm not trying to knock their talent. What I don't like is being force-fed the music that they churn out. Not a week goes by without some lame cover being released, or some brand new song that you find out was actually a hit in Norway or Sweden, or somewhere similar not too long back. How I long for the days when bands had to work hard to get a Number One. The marketing in today's music means that a band can get to Number One even if they sound like a pile of Number Twos! Bring back a time when a record would spend two months in the Top Ten before finally reaching the summit and staying there for more than a couple of weeks. Bring back bands that practiced together in their bedrooms. Bring back singers who can write their own songs and play their own instruments. Get rid of the squeaky clean images, and the marketing machines which cause bands to fall as spectacularly as they rise. Failing all of that, just get rid of G-G-G-G-Gareth Gates, and I'll be halfway happy!

I know I'm asking a lot to banish all of the above to Room 101, but even getting rid of just one of them would make me feel better! Please?

Oh, and don't forget to rate my op. You know how much I hate it when you don't!

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