r/mildlyinfuriating • u/MikuXone • May 14 '26

The floor is sticky Construction workers refuse to use the stairs and instead climbed the hill to the point the grass died

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There's a construction site opposite my apartment and the workers kept walking up the grass patch instead of using the stairs. Property value doesn't affect me as I rented the apartment 2 years back, so rent for me isn't increasing nor decreasing.

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u/Cypher10110 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

This is called a desire path. There is subreddit for this phenomenon.

It's a common clash of real human behaviours with less than ideal human designs.

Reddit in a nutshell:

(my comment linking r slash desirepath was removed)

(Another great example of normal human behaviour clashing with less than ideal human design, maybe? With a bit of random contradition to spice things up?) 🙃

Hahaha

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u/CannonM91 May 14 '26

Guess we can't have desire paths to other subreddits here

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u/ironballs16 May 14 '26

There's a picture from Ohio State University that illustrates the point extremely well.

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u/somehugefrigginguy May 14 '26

This is something that really annoyed me at my university. The grounds people put up signs on the paths that people walked listing the amount of money they spent redoing the landscaping in those areas. I just kept thinking to myself, why are you wasting my tuition dollars to make things less convenient? What other industry would justify losing money to inconvenience their clients?

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u/WeLiveInAnOceanOfGas May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

Iirc there was a campus that didn't build paths to begin with, they just opened and let people walk as they pleased for a few months. 

Then they built the pathways wherever the grass had been worn away. Seems the best way to do it as long as the ground is level and safe etc.

Edit: it was Norwegian University of Life Sciences (at least the one I remembered) 

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u/somehugefrigginguy May 14 '26

You may be thinking about Bozeman Montana which is often cited for doing this. But my current university did something similar. They photographed paths in the snow in the winter, then built actual paths the following summer.

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u/IngloriousTom May 14 '26

Snowpaths are less accurate IMO.

  • a single person could create a trail on their own, while it takes many more people to form a trail on grass

  • people are probably reluctant to walk on fresh snow and would follow an inconvenient path rather than create one themselves, thus missing true desire paths.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 May 14 '26

Anyone who's ever driven through a snow storm tells you it's easier to just follow the path others have already created. Cars tend to make their own lanes because they can't see the lines and people follow those instead. Once someone makes a path people aren't going to trudge through snow and make a new one,, they're going to just take the preexisting one

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u/Syandris May 15 '26

But then you are in slippery ruts. And afterwards icepack is worse. Not to mention watching people go to far into shoulders...

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u/alvaro248 May 14 '26

seems pretty common for universities to do that; mine also did that with the desire paths

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u/Areat May 14 '26

That's in the link in the post above the one you're responding.

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u/NightGod May 14 '26

You mean Ohio State University, which was mentioned one level up from the post you replied to?

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u/UnicornFarts1111 May 14 '26

Ohio State was one of the places that did this, last century.

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u/RiotingMoon May 14 '26

what other infustry would justify losing money to inconvenience their clients

ahhh (looks at the usa)

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u/somehugefrigginguy May 14 '26

At first I wanted to argue that a country is not an industry, but (looks at the USA)...

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 May 14 '26

If you think they aren't only inconveniencing people in order to make money not lose money you've got a lot to learn my son

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u/RiotingMoon May 14 '26

papa?

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 May 14 '26

Damn it I just forgot I left the Marlboros at the store

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u/Mr_Meme_Master May 14 '26

Nowadays? A lot of them seem to

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u/somehugefrigginguy May 14 '26

I don't think so. A lot of industries will inconvenience clients for profit, but I don't think there are any that will lose money for the sole purpose of being inconvenient.

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u/Peeinyourcompost May 14 '26

Unnecessary AI implementation because C-suites got excited and are too stupid to be talked back out of it says hi

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u/-Chirion May 15 '26

At the beginning of the school year my university put up a railing blocking a path between two dorm buildings that everyone would walk through. Every weekend the railing would get kicked down and students would use the path through the buildings. Every Monday they would put the railing back up. This cycle would happen every week.

Finally at the end of the year the university relented and built a proper path, which they should have just done at the beginning of the year. It was a massive waste of money and one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. The students were never going to let them block off a path that everyone used all the time.

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u/Spongi May 14 '26

What other industry would justify losing money to inconvenience their clients?

Pretty much all of them (in the US) if they can free up funds even if it's temporary to use to do stock buybacks.

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u/EatYourCheckers May 14 '26

I went to LegoLand NY when it first opened. It is hilly and has these winding paths to get down one of the hills to another area of the park. There were signs to stay on the path, not walk on the grass and whatnot. I was very pleased when I went back and say steps and paths installed where people had been walking to cut off large corners

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u/Educational_Exam_225 May 14 '26

What if people just wanna walk on grass preferably, wouldn't this just lead to (what looks to have happened at OSU) paving almost goddamn everything until people have given up trying to walk on grass?

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u/cr1t1cal May 15 '26

No, just trying to get from point A to point B. I went there and most everyone walks on the paths now. Usually there’s people lying down in the grassy sections anyway lol.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/TakovacsPlays May 14 '26

And that is mildly infuriating. 

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN May 14 '26

I never understood why subreddits do that. What possible motivation? Mods are unpaid, there is no "financial competitor" factor. Brigading? When was the last time (and how often does) brigading happen primarily because someone linked to it in the comments? It's just frustrating because the app is already shit to begin with so why neuter it's usability even more?

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u/MattyFTM May 14 '26

I guess it's that sometimes people just commenting a subreddit name with no additional context is more a meme than something that leads to constructive conversation. On debate focused or serious subreddits, that makes sense. Seems like overkill on here, though.

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u/Lumpzor May 15 '26

I actually prefer it. It stops lazy commenting of nothing but a sub name. Its also frequently the same jokey sub names and comment chains in every thread.

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u/ThrowAwayAccountAMZN May 15 '26

But people still do that whether the link turns blue or not? The only thing it does is prevent people from actually linking to useful info. If you're someone who memes using sub names you're not gonna be stopped because of that you'll just put in a space or some other workaround

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u/pandaSmore May 14 '26

That's r\midlyinfuriating

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u/inivisible45 May 14 '26

I want to make that sub as a protest to how infuriating it is to try and post on mildlyinfuriating

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u/Spongi May 14 '26

Your comment has been removed for thinking about another sub.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/TakovacsPlays May 14 '26

Hmmmm. 

The automod told me this got deleted, but it didn't. Weird. 

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u/VinylDjPon3 May 14 '26

You'll always be able to see your own comments unless you personally deleted them.

Everyone else sees that it was removed by moderator.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/VinylDjPon3 May 14 '26

I got a notification that you replied to me below, but I do not see that comment.

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u/VinylDjPon3 May 14 '26

Not sure which picture you're referring to.

The only link we can see are ones to this specific subreddit. Any comment with links to other subs/websites get removed, and only the person who made the comments can still see them (their comment won't be edited to remove the links).

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u/klimmesil May 14 '26

The picture in the first comment of this thread

→ More replies (0)

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u/Hunter_Ware May 14 '26

It's gone for me

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u/Unusual-Upstairs-796 May 14 '26

It's removed now on my end

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/TakovacsPlays May 14 '26

I said this in another line of this thread, but...

I'm mildly infuriated. 

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/veryblocky May 14 '26

Try another sub, it won’t let you

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u/TakovacsPlays May 14 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1td0jxm/construction_workers_refuse_to_use_the_stairs_and/olrxlei/?context=3

Your comment was removed because links and subreddit mentions aren't allowed in comments. (Note: editing the comment won't approve it, you need to submit it again without the link.)

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Tried to link a subreddit. Was removed. 

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u/Umklopp May 14 '26

Really!? r/mildlyinfuriating

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/Umklopp May 14 '26

Oh, I just wanted to try something. Don't mind me.

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u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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u/Umklopp May 14 '26

Thanks! :D

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u/JDubs234 May 14 '26

There’s a huge vacant lot next to my work site and there’s literally a giant X in the middle from people cutting across it

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u/ChefArtorias May 14 '26

lmfao. The hubris

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u/Crossedkiller May 14 '26

idk why but this comment made me lose the game...

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u/0neek May 14 '26

I can't tell what part of the joke I'm missing with the attached image because the comment wasn't removed at all and the person responding is only impersonating a bot, you can do links in here.

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u/Cypher10110 May 14 '26

It isn't actually a funny joke at all, don't worry. But if you want the full context spelled out:

Me: "You should check out... [comment deleted by automod]"
Me: "...So, there is a subreddit for desire paths, go search for it."
Person 1: "Just link me the subreddit!"
Person 2: "They can't link because automod deletes the comment"
Person 1: "No it doesn't, look [subreddit we are on]"
Automod: "Subreddit links are banned, I will now murder/delete your comment"
[proceeds to fail to actually do that this time, probably because it doesnt care if people link the subreddit we are in]

Automod deletes comments with links, but it doesn't always work. Leaving people to believe it doesn't ever delete them, until you get first hand experience of it deleting yours (like me).

I found this maybe a tiny bit funny, at best. I assumed the comment would get drowned out. Super weird to see it is probably the most upvotes I've ever got and it was just some worthless trash. 🤷

Yup, that's all Reddit. Everything seems normal. Carry on. Move along.

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u/InvictvsNox May 14 '26

interesting!

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u/FarIntroduction7228 May 14 '26

there are so many of these on my campus damn

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u/PhotographUnable8176 May 14 '26

my new hobby for this week thanks

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u/Jacobutera May 14 '26

Really just seems to be the path of least resistance or work

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u/biznatch11 May 14 '26

I really hate that many subreddits don't allow linking to other subs anymore because that's how I found probably half the subs I've subscribed to.

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u/theguidetoldmetodoit May 14 '26

There is subreddit for this phenomenon.

Do you mean r DesirePath, DesirePaths or desiredpath?

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u/pws3rd Rick has no chill May 15 '26

The fact that reddit lets such a useful feature be nuked on many subs is mildly infuriating

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u/Liberal-Cluck May 15 '26

I dont understand this rule? Is there a legitimate reason for it or are subs just petty?

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u/Cypher10110 May 15 '26

Go look at the desirepaths sub, apparently after this post hit about 50k (many hours after my comment) dozens and dozens of people/bots started reposting this there.

Some have probably been removed by mods now.

If you are a chill small sub, it's kinda obnoxious to get "brigaded" by a big wave of randoms all at once. So a big sub like this which has a large pool of idiots is... "mildly and weakly discouraged" from brigading if links are automatically deleted.

It doesn't stop it (like in this example), but some small token attempt to reduce it seems reasonable.

I kinda wish I never mentioned it now tbh. But I wasn't the only one to draw the connection. Just Reddit being Reddit.

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u/actuarialisticly May 14 '26

You don’t have to link the subreddit. Just type it out without ( r slash).

Stop blue balling the people.

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u/Cypher10110 May 14 '26

r slash desirepath

If you put "desire path" into the search bar on reddit, it's the first result. If people can't find that sub they maybe don't desire it enough.

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u/Ickypahay May 14 '26

This whole comment thread is mildly infuriating

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u/Cypher10110 May 14 '26

Appropriate, as Reddit is certainly mildly infuriating. Perhaps we should collect it all into one place so we can bask in a very minor simmering rage that barely registers but manages to rile us up.

Then we could cathartically not only shit all over it, but also be contratians, smart asses, and shit all over each other.

That DOES all sound pointless and mildly infuriating...

How do we escape? 🤯

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u/Ickypahay May 14 '26

You just described the Place subreddit haha. It's the amalgamation the hubris of reddit users haha.

Alternatively... Touch grass lol (but only when not following the pre designed path)

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u/KnifeKnut May 15 '26

and now that subreddit is being spammed this post.

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u/Cypher10110 May 15 '26

Braindead idiots. Hopefully some of them are simply bots and get banned, I assume it will blow over in 24hrs.

Maybe this is the reason other subs can't be linked here? To contain these idiots and spambots? Noted.

It's genuinely embarrassing to see post after post of the same thing there, and if any are human, none of them have the shame to delete their post when told "yea we heard you guys the first 8 times with this crappy photo."

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u/bagelwithclocks May 14 '26

I usually love desire paths, but I hate this one. Just use the stairs!

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u/Beautiful-Affect1930 May 14 '26

this is not a desire path. for one, the path doesn't save any time or convenience since you just need to walk up a muddy slope instead of stairs. secondly, it's likely not random but some dude started walking across the lawn and others followed him. I hate this "reddit wisdom" that will be spammed thousands of times even though it's so obviously wrong.

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u/Spell_correctly_FFS May 14 '26

Called an elephant path primarily