reader redux

We recently outlined some serious email pet peeves, pitting them against one another to see which was the worst. While the majority vote said that forwarding along a forwarded, forwarded message was the worst, you had some funny responses of your own. Check out more pet peeves below.

• "Bad grammar and punctuation! If your email has a spell check use it for crying out loud. A bunch of people would be copied on them and no one ever mentioned he should you know, have someone proof read his emails." — Budderflie

Check out more pet peeves and share your own (if you haven't already) after the break.

Though it may not be appropriate for your life now, your first AIM screen name will always be special. The first link to the outside world, these screen names were probably filled with XX and OO and possibly a few celebrity or band names. I asked you to share your firsts, and you were brave enough to answer the call. Check 'em out below!

• "My first ever AOL screen name was bebe047." — PrincessBee
• "RockGrrl87. I was 12! I didn't know how obnoxious it was to spell things ridiculously. Ah, youth." — DrGirlfriend
• "my first was "dreamstar258411." It was so ridiculously long with an unnecessary amount of numbers." — Marshmelly411
• "littleladykate. My boyfriend when I was 12 made me change it to ktprinces919." — jkatie

After a very scary experience involving a set of plugged-in headphones and a car that ran a red light, I may support NYC's proposed ban on headphones while crossing the street. Not everyone agrees with it though; here's what some of you had to say:

• "I always look both ways before crossing the street — it's NYC, I just assume a cab or a delivery person on a bike is about to hit me regardless of right of way. Heh. My headphones are also my only line of defense from constant sexual harassment on the street. I'd be an unhappy camper if I have to actually listen to what creepies are saying to me." — aniline
• "I've had people walk right in front of my car without ever realizing that they were putting themselves in danger of being hit because they were wearing headphones and couldn't hear me. While a law seems a little silly, I can see why it's being proposed." — kindo1313
• "I totally understand why they would want to do this . . . But I don't necessarily support it. I know personally (though I don't live in NYC) love walking with my headphones in, and I'm always really careful about looking both ways even when I have a walk signal! People just need to be less stupid. Can we make THAT a law?" — bethinabox
• "People need to be more responsible for their own lives. I'm from New York City and when im walking down the street I make sure that my music isn't so loud that I cant hear the traffic or even someone around me. I've never been so distracted by my music that I'm oblivious to everything going on around me. And yes I have experienced reckless drivers before." — Yesi Jukebox

Do you have an opinion? Share it below or on Facebook.

After a particularly unfortunate incident involving a Las Vegas slot machine and an expensive camera, I shared my story and asked you to join in solidarity by sharing your most boneheaded slipups resulting in a lost piece of expensive technology. Here's what you had to say:

• "Yup, I left my first Android "my touch" phone in bed, wrapped sheets together, and threw in washer. Let's just say it was very clean and dead after the super wash." — bingbingboom
• "Yes, my boyfriend put my iPod Nano in what he thought was a CD compartment in the car. It is now lost inside of my dashboard!" — SFCA
• "I washed two cell phones in a row, and also saw a smart phone in a port-a-potty at New Orleans Jazz Fest . . . smartly abandoned." — Elka Karl
• "Two months after getting the first iPhone, I was hanging by the pool and realized that it was getting very hot from the direct sun and stuck it into my folded up towel. About an hour later, I was getting out of the pool and grabbed my towel and flung it open, only to fling my iPhone into the pool. The guys at the Apple store thought it was pretty funny that I tried to teach my phone how to swim." — Akasha

Have you made an equally ridiculous move? Share your experiences below or on our Facebook page!

We told you what CES was like for a woman, but then asked you ladies to tell us what the tech industry is like for you. We got a ton of responses, most of which reinforce the theory that women are still the underdogs in the tech industry. Find out what your geeky comrades had to say below:

• "No wonder during CES 2009 they shared spaces with a porn convention! All kidding aside, women are just as capable as men to discuss electronics and engage in interesting conversation about future trends in the industry. I love gadgets and would have enjoyed tremendously visiting CES and learning about cutting edge products that can improve our lives, make it more exciting and bridge the distance gap. I would like to point out that my experiences overall have been positive especially at electronic stores; half the time I know more about the product than the salesman. I don't know if that intimidates them or makes them uncomfortable, but I am glad to show them that women do know about technology!" — Roxanne R.
• "It's more prevalent than we realize even today where more and more woman are IT professionals than in the past. When I first joined the military there were very few IT women and even fewer of them new their job well enough to work unsupervised. These sorts of women made it hard for me straight off the back. I cannot tell you how many months a man had to go with me on jobs to 'supervise' my work. Was it their fault they felt I couldn't do it? Not entirely since many women before me had proven they could not or would not do the task well. It took a long time before I was able to prove that not only could I do but that I could train another to do it by myself. I'm not trying to cut the men that do it some slack but perhaps it's not entirely their fault when other women haven't lived up to the potential they posses and only further a narrow minded stereotype." — Geek Faerie

See more responses after the break.

Last week, I asked you to help a girl out in staging a tech intervention. Just to jog your memory, our Community Assistant fears for her Apple-obsessed brother's financial (and social) future since he spends so much time obsessing over his gadgets, and asked for your advice on what to do about it. Here's what you suggested:

• "Steal all his gadgets and hide them, then take him to a cabin without internet access and that just has the basic necessities for a weekend. If he can make it through that without having a meltdown, I wouldnt worry about it. If not, then he needs some serious counseling." — exteche
• "I guess you can list out all the extra money he spent for things he didn't need and show how much money was wasted. But I don't think that will be a big enough shock to prevent the habit from continuing." — SkinnyMarie

Get the rest of the advice after the break.

Last week, a huge controversy hit Amazon when a tasteless and potentially dangerous book was discovered among its self-published works for the Kindle. At first Amazon did not pull the title, issuing a statement that it doesn't censor any titles. Then, after a proposed boycott and much negative press (and perhaps another review of the material in question), the title was removed from the store.

I shared my views on the matter; after the break, a sampling of some of your passionate responses:

Last week we asked you if you thought it was possible that Apple could have turned iPhone 3Gs into bricks after the iOS4 update in order to promote the iPhone 4, possibly increasing sales. Here's what you had to say:

• "My mom and a friend of mine both use a 3G and they have both noticed the phones acting sluggish and very unresponsive after they updated to the new 4.0 and even 4,1 software." — (L)
• "I ran iOS4 on my 3G for a few months and never had a problem. Of course I did end up getting the iPhone 4, but that had nothing to do with my phone being slow or anything." — bethinabox

Read more of your comments when you read more.

Recently, Facebook changed the size of its homescreen font, making it difficult for some viewers to read. Many people have spoken out about the change, but Facebook has remained mum save one mention on Twitter.

Here's what some of you had to say about the change:

• "I'm torn. It's a little too small, but I like the text layout better than before." — PrincessOats
• "Why, why, why, oh WHY cannot Facebook just leave things alone?!? They are always mucking around with some thing or another that affects our privacy, the way we interact with Facebook or the way it looks. PLEASE Facebook, just leave things alone for a while!" — Elfyn

Check out the rest of the community's responses and share your own after the break.

According to The New York Times, one of the most common reasons for unfriending someone on Facebook is if they post too frequently — but according to the GeekSugar Community, there are many, many more.

Here's what you had to say about what kind of Facebook behavior warrants unfriending:

• "I unfriend anyone whom I realize shouldn't have 'access' to my life. It's not that I air everything out on Facebook, but I am cognizant of what I post, sp if I don't feel comfortable sharing it with certain people, then this same people really shouldn't be connected to me in the first place. I take this same approach for accepting friend requests as well." — missiza
• "Another person just got defriended (today) for always talking about G-d in her updates ('Praise the lord for passing that test', etc.). And not just once...literally at least 3 times a day she was either praising Jesus or praying for something or another. It was just enough." — pinkflake2

Check out more of what you had to say after the break.