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Why are you, the ever so pink-and-fluffy SE making me hate ?

I don't hate hats. I just don't want to participate because I'm a grumpy old bahumbug kinda guy.

I don't like hating :(

Can we choose not to participate rather than having to hate ?

I am sad.

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  • 2
    Maybe because "I prefer to not participate in Winter Bash this year, thank you very much and have a good time" is bit too long and formal? It's all about fun. You can either love it, or hate it. Or ignore it. :-)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 10:59
  • 2
    @lain: Would you be willing to edit your question, focusing on changing the label, instead of on the 'hate' part and noise that I think is currently included in this question? That way I wouldn't mind (anymore) if my earlier question from today would be marked as duplicate.
    – Pierre.Vriens
    Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 14:05

7 Answers 7

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35

You're misunderstanding this. "Hate" here does not refer to the verb for "extreme and hostile dislike"; it's a short form of "hat erasure". The etymology is explained in this episode of the "History of Words" podcast.

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  • 14
    "I hat erasure hats"? That doesn't sound right. But the fine folks at English Language & Usage would probably know better.
    – user642796
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 11:09
  • 25
    Feature request: change to "I ate hats".
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 11:10
  • 8
    I'm still sad. I don't like hating however you wish to try and wriggle out of it.
    – user147520
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 11:22
  • I followed the link, I am sadder.
    – user147520
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 13:13
  • 1
    like in the song, What does the Fox Say? Hate Hate Hate Ho
    – Malachi
    Commented Dec 15, 2015 at 15:27
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    @balpha: I think YOU misunderstand this (or should I rather say "seem to not be willing to listen ..."?
    – Pierre.Vriens
    Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 10:18
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The choice of words might be glib to the original author of the dialog box, but it really does bother some of us. It's not simply being sensitive about a “bad word” used by someone else. Rather, it's asking us to make a statement about ourselves, using a word (concept) that we remind ourselves not to do.

Maybe we need to get a card-carrying Buddist or somesuch in here to officially make it a religous issue?

What’s your good solid UX reason for not rephrasing it to simply state the effect of the choice?

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    The wording has now changed from "I hate hats" to "No hats for me, please": see my answer below.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Commented Dec 16, 2020 at 0:09
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Please review Replace text in website with Chrome content script extension to create an extension that replaces every instance of "I hate hats" to a phrase of your choice, such as, "Don't show hats - it's not you, it's me, maybe we can just be friends. Friends that never, ever see each other."

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    If you want something simpler, use an existing word replacer extension, such as chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/word-replacer-ii/… and once installed you can create whole lists of corrections for phrase you don't want to see on the internet.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 18:24
  • Please enhance your question to explain what to do for those who don't HAVE (for whatever reason) or HATE (oeps: DO NOT LIKE ...) Chrome?
    – Pierre.Vriens
    Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 11:56
  • 1
    @Pierre.Vriens Each browser has its own method to incorporate userscripts and extensions. I'm not going to write a comprehensive guide here, those who are curious might want to refer to mturkgrind.com/threads/… and use google to search phrases such as "[mybrowser] script replace words" for clues as to how to proceed. Alternately employ someone else to click the link for you, then ignore it altogether for a few weeks if you can't bring yourself to click a link with the word "hate" in it.
    – Pollyanna
    Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 13:24
  • Merci for the clarification.
    – Pierre.Vriens
    Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 13:31
8

Simple, concise replacement that should work well for everyone:

No hats for me!

It's only a little longer than the original (unlike some of the unwieldy monstrosities being thrown about) and gets to the point without being painfully drab as e.g. "Don't show hats" would be.

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    An even simpler No Thanks would be better.
    – user147520
    Commented Dec 6, 2016 at 7:49
  • @Iain: The opt-out link is shown at the bottom of the hat popdown, so "No thanks" wouldn't fit there.
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Commented Dec 6, 2016 at 8:00
7

As of Winter Bash 2020, this has changed from being to .

The button to opt out of hats now says "No hats for me, please" instead of "I hate hats":

No hats for me, please

So now you no longer have to express hate for hats in order to opt out of them.

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4

Would be nice if "I hate hats" would changed to "I do not like hats" ... But I fear this suggestion may only makes sense for those who are living around Paris or Brussels.

PS 1: this answer is only about the terrible label, not about if one should yes/no participate.

PS 2: refer to my "related" feature request at "Change "I hate hats" to an opt-in approach on ALL sites (not only on SO)" ... Which IMHO is not a duplicate. If it ever gets implemented, it'd also address the this question ... I think.

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-1

I think, but am absolutely not sure, it is 'spoken' (typed) in a Grumpy manner: "I hate {x}".

Meaning that you don't actually hate it, but don't want to show your affection for it either.

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  • When I was "forced" to indicate "I do not like hats", I was NOT grumpy. So this answer does not apply in all cases.
    – Pierre.Vriens
    Commented Dec 17, 2015 at 11:59

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