The Oatmeal

Here's a sampling of the things on this site that happen to perfectly fit my linguistic pet peeve tag:

10 words you need to stop misspelling (I would add the word "misspelling" to this list, though the comic itself got it right.)
Flesh vs Flush
When to use "i.e." in a sentence
How to use an apostrophe
How to use a semicolon (I personally get around this one simply by never, ever using a semicolon.)
The 3 most common uses of irony (It's funny [possibly even ironic?] because the moral of this long-winded debate about what irony is and is not is "don't debate about what irony is and is not.")
What it means when you say "literally" (reference)

Beyond those, there are a lot of other things as well.

Youtube "piracy"

You want to know what my initial, gut reaction invariably is whenever I try to load a Youtube video but find out it has been taken down due to a copyright infringement claim or some such thing? Well, I'll tell you.

My reaction has never once been anything along the lines of "Shame on Youtube user <insert name here> for uploading content that belonged to <insert company here> without permission. Good on <insert company here> for fighting that good fight."

My reaction is always something along the lines of "Ugh, man, what a bunch of priggish jerkasses over at <insert company here> for getting this removed. What great harm was that video doing to them that they had to go and file a complaint against it, anyway?"

Is it right that this is always my reaction? Probably not. The companies getting these things taken down are well within the law, and the user who uploaded it is indeed in the wrong, technically. However, does that change the fact that this is indeed how I feel, every single time? Nope, sure doesn't. All I'm saying is that, in my eyes at least, any company acting to get a Youtube video deleted for copyright infringement never fails to make that company look bad. I am perfectly well aware that said company is completely within their rights to do so and that it's not rational or logical for me to feel that way. I'm just saying that's how it is for me, rational or not, right or not.

(EDIT)

I will make an exception for the case of someone uploading an entire two hour movie or something. In that case, yeah, I'm more in favor of the copyright holders getting it removed. I'm talking more about stuff like two minute clips from a TV show or fan-made music videos or Youtube Poop or Botchamania and the like.

(/EDIT)

One of the stupidest things I've heard of in a long while: placeholder emails

I got my W2 at work today, so I decided to check https://www.myedaccount.com/ to see if my 1098E was ready. I logged in and, hey, there's apparently a message in my inbox! Nice. I opened my message inbox, and sure enough there's a message entitled "Your 1098E Form is available". Sweet. So, I opened the message and was greeted with the following:

"This message is still being processed and is not ready to view. If you have provided the Direct Loan Servicing Center with a valid e-mail address, you will receive a courtesy e-mail notification when this message is available.

Sincerely,

The Direct Loan Servicing Center"

What.

Why.

If there is any purpose whatsoever in putting a placeholder email into someone's inbox to be filled in later, I am sorry but I am not seeing it at all.

(EDIT)

I've found out that I can apparently just click the "Print My Tax Info" link on the main page. Well, if could get logged back in again, I would try that. Right now though, the site just isn't loading at all, even though it was loading fine just a few minutes ago.

(/EDIT)