What are people's thoughts on this?

Am I showing my age by getting annoyed when I see people leaving "I'm first!" or "First comment!" on posts? Especially when that's ALL they say, not providing any other detail or comment?

I'm only bringing this up here because it's started to creep up on MTS. Over the last few weeks I've noticed some of the newer downloads being put up have had "First comment" posts tacked onto them.

Should these posts be removed when they don't provide any other type of comment, critique, suggestion, praise? Is it part of the 1st amendment? Am I the only that that's annoyed by this?

(Already prepared for the funny guy/girl that says "First" to this...) =)

I'm first!

No, seriously. I think it's kind of a sign of immaturity. If you don't have anything constructive to add to the conversation then why bother making an ass out of yourself? Should they be removed, probably. But the moderators have enough to do that they don't need to worry about such silly things. I've found this effective elsewhere is simply adding someone who I deem to stupid or annoying to an ignore list so it just doesn't show me any posts by them. Thankfully, I haven't had to do this here yet.

When I used to read Regretsy, someone would always do that. And then they'd get so many thumbs down or whatever it is they have, that the 'I'm first!' comment would be hidden due to low rating. There's that other thing too where you're like the sixth commenter, but your comment becomes 52 because people post as replies or replies to the replies, so that their comment can be closer to the top. The funny world of the internet.

Yes, I've noticed this "fad" is really prevalent on Facebook and other larger social sites. I'm guessing they think it's there little moment of fame, that all the rest of the people who look at that post/picture will see their name. I usually hide/ignore those as well.

But when it comes to this site, if it starts happening here, with every download, how do you ignore that?

i suppose it could pass for a take on "healthy competition".... on the internet.

how do you ignore it? by ignoring it. why does it bother you who does or does not post the first comment and what they say in it? would it be better if the majority of first comments were "oogle boogle fleighnmnzchagn"? would it be worth complaining about?

personally, i dont even read the comments on a submission unless im having difficulties with the mod in my game and think that maybe the problem has already been addressed. i mean, who cares that much about what people say about it if you like it well enough?

That's a good point! I'm not exactly SURE why it bothers me so much. I guess because of what Thomas said, it's just a sign of immaturity. What's the point of it?

But the competition point of view is interesting. Is that what's left for kids to compete for? (I say kids, because I assume the majority of the people who post this are young). Is it really a competition if no one knows they're supposed to be competing?

Also, if the majority of first comments were "oogle boogle fleighnmnzchagn", I think the problem would be the same, there's still no point to it. =)

I agree. The "1st comment" posts are annoying and a sign of immaturity. Then there are the follow-ups of "2nd comment." Really? Why?

I also don't think that you're showing your age by being annoyed about something like this. It has nothing to do with how old you are. It boils down to one's maturity.

I'd also like to add, there's a lot of assumption on forums and in game chats that immature actions (meaningless posts, raging, angry and/or flamming posts, outright rude behavior, etc.) are done by the younger crowd. Older people can be just as immature, and sometimes worse, than those much younger.

The only place I have ever seen this is Failblog. I just don't click on the comments anymore.
It annoys the hell out of me when I want to find out about the post, click on the comments and find a page full of people yelling first.

That's quite an old habit. I always thought that people are so excited about the new download that it's an honour for them to be first to say thanks. Kind of like the "Marry me" and "I'll have your children" comments.

to a lot of people, of any age, life is one big competition...for attention.
negative or positive, it doesnt matter to them. if they become the most popular, by any means necessary, theyve "won" at life. anyone who worships the ground celebrities walk on can easily pick up on the message that youre a loser if nobody recognizes you, and since most people who worship celebrities really are not interesting people in the real world, that would leave one good place left to flail around for any semblance of fame...the internet.

...teehee, you said "oogle boogle fleighnmnzchagn".

but back OT: a lot of what people do makes no sense. if part of being human meant you had to make sense in all you said/did, the world would not nearly be as screwed up as it is today.

Ugh.. why would anyone need to say "First Comment"? That sounds positively ridiculous.

Well, regarding MTS... it doesn't happen on every download. And when we do see posts like that, we delete them for wasting server space.

That's good to know WhiteRider! At least as far as MTS is concerned. And while it doesn't happen on every download (yet), I've been seeing it happen more frequently, on one of the most recent uploads which is what brought it up in my mind.

I only see people doing it on threads that are going to be "epic" and read it as shorthand for something that's going to be popular because it's great--which seems appropriate for upload threads and a compliment really--or a thread that is going to stir up a lot of drama.

15th!

I don't really understand it myself. It's become quite a meme though, and I think a lot of people who do it actually try to pretend they're being ironic instead of that they're just being annoying.

Edit: (Should this be in Debate? Is it a debate? I posted assuming from the title that it was General Discussion and now I see it's not. Should I be taking a harder position on this problem? )

Honeywell: If you're talking about here on MTS, I suppose that might be true. For there rest of the interwebs, that might have been how it started out as well, but it's gone a lot further than that now. If you notice (for instance) any time that there is a post or picture posted to TS3's Facebook page, this "1st Plague" occurs. I'm sure it happens all over the place in other mediums as well, but the TS3 stuff is the only things I actually look at.

Haha, Kiwi, that was my quandary as well - I guess it's only a debate if you get someone to argue for the other side. Which will probably not happen. =) I couldn't think of any other place to put it, I guess it could be considered a rant as well, but I did want to open it up for discussion. heh

I haven't seen any of those "I'm first" without some gushing and appreciation for the download served along side. Since Whiterider says they delete those comments, that may be why.

Whenever I've seen them with the appreciation part, I've always taken it to mean something along the lines of excitement to receive a download. It seemed positive to me.

Huh.

Actually it is worse then that . If it is just starting here , I will go and pray that it will never ever reach the same level on others social place .
For exmple , on Youtube the '1st Comment' is a plague .

And depand on what channel you are , and what you are watching and if there is any supervision (from the channel owner ) . There are 3 outcomes to the 'I'm 1st!'
1- You thumb it down (and everyone will follow you and do so) .
2- You answer and say 'Hey can't you say more cose 1st comment is kinda stupid' And soon enough you are stuck in a flaming war . Yes those who put comment like that have Troll friends and they will join the battle .
3- You do Step 2 but instead of a flaming war (which seem balanced , cose it is those who don't like against those who like ) . There are chances (happen to me many time) where YOU get to be flamed for daring to remotly mock somoene who put 'I'm 1st!' . And you become the Troll and he is the Nice guy/gal...which in the end just make you sad and wonder if the world is crazy or just you .

But to me , 1st comment is a nuisance because I saw it go out of controle . Peoples even start fighting who was 1st and who is 2nd . Which just spam a nice video . I like to read smart comments , comment that are sweet , bitchy even . But 'I'm 1st' doesn't have a category per se . It can only go on Spam .

And it become a plague (as on YT) because not everyone monitore their own channels (some can't cose of the level of thing they have uploaded) . I believe that you have a channel ? you have a responsability . I do on mine , and always stop thing before they go out of hands . But again , that's just me .

It's not new. It's been going on for over twenty years. I remember similar activities on my BBS and on the various USENET-y bits that predicated world wide web access in my part of the world. If you extend the analog, you can even go to remote places of the world and apparently you'll find initials carved into stone and trees claiming "first" to various folks seeking recognition. I suspect Ogh the Caveman had similar friends making notches on trees, "First upright, suckers!"

Mostly it doesn't bother me really except as a general annoyance of signal to noise. If you get enough noise in a communication you tend to automatically filter, and if there's not a lot of noise there's usually some sort of moderating filter or else the information itself isn't very thick. Besides, I'm not sure what you'd do as a solution. Penalize people? Educate them? Surely everyone knows it's a social no-no by now? Even if you endeavor to make it "not cool," that's just going to bring out counter-culture "not cool is cool" warriors.

One of the sites I hang around has a filter that converts any instance of "first post" to "boobies" (and/or sometimes "weeners," though that might also be reserved for "second post") and, if it actually was the first post in a thread, slams the post down to the end so that no matter how many people comment afterwards, the "first post" will always come last. Doesn't come up much these days, but it's amusing when it does. It's even more karmically fitting than mere deletion, I think.

But in actual reply to the OP, yeah, super immature behavior and a ridiculous thing to get excited over. I can sort of understand some of the elation if it's on a site where any one thread can have hundreds of replies that go mostly unread because who cares what someone said all the way down in comment 175 [not always the case of course] and being first means your comment is actually likely to be read for a change... but that says nothing about those who post "FIRST!!!" and nothing else, since there's nothing to read in that. Of course, writing a more thoughtful reply takes time, during which the #1 slot is snatched by someone else...except who flippin' cares, seriously. And then some do it deliberately as a form of trolling since they know people find it aggravating.

I think its harmless but I don't care for it and don't do it personally. Also folks who 'bump' threads to bring them to the top again. If you have something to add, I can sort of understand... But bumping something for no reason...

I love the "First!" comments that come in second. They always make my day.

First! to choose to play devil's advocate.

Posting first results in epic lulz. Nobody likes it, and it's funny to see them get so angry over such a trivial thing. It's just like hassling a sibling, but on the scale of hassling everyone on Youtube comments sections.

There. That's the closest thing to an argument in favour that I can muster.

(Edit: This whole argument was so weak that I disagreed with myself).

The "first post" issue is a well known phenomenon on the internet. It's spreading everywhere and (whitout knowing) I think that it's mostly younger folks, read kids and teens, who do it becurse the have a desperate need to post in threads but (as usual) have nothing to say. It's a kind of trolling and as you all know it's a good idea Not to feed the trolls. So if you see a post to your threads saying "I'm first", do not reply to it. The posters do not care if you call them names bcurse you give them attention by replying to their posts and that makes them happy. I do not think there is a quick fix for this issue. After a while the "first" posters stop but there will always be new ones who takes over. Yes, the "first" posts is stupid but the best idea (as I see it) is to roll whit it and don't give the posters attention. Like Whiterider said: the post will be deleted if detected.

I did see that Bumping was mentioned but I do not think it makes sence in this discussion. No affence. Sure, a bump (whitout additional info to the thread) is a very unmature thing to do but it's a thing you do to your own thread to keep it placed near the top of the list. A "First" post can be done to any random thread as long as it's brand new (unanswered). Bumbs are common but not I do not think the problem is so big (again whitout knowing). Both things are however against the rules on most forums.

An excellent Machinima about the matter : here