Re: Factors having positive & negative influences on members
Bussy wrote:
OT, I must say, what I do find offensive.
Allan, thanks for providing some feedback. Let's see if I understand you correctly.
Why do I bother with 'flat earth' people? You defined them as idiots. There are no idiots on this forum. I would refer to an idiot perhaps as Neanderthal. By 'flat earth' I mean they have an outdated belief. Guided by an old wive's tale. They have been educated by their well meaning brother-in-law or mate at the pub or perhaps by their parents. Surely we have all been in this position at some point in life and will continue to be until death? They are intelligent people but through no fault of their own have the wrong understanding, perhaps for much of their adult life. Generally this will be in a technical field. This is common for much of the population unless they have had training - and even some of those are suss. You would know all of this.
If someone presents like that with a question then I feel they are entitled to a careful and measured response. On another popular very active forum they can be called idiots. Over there serious personal insults are often traded. Here we are much more respectful of each other.
Why do I answer, as well as mowing the grass, because they are in need of assistance, just like any other member. You are suggesting I should ignore the 'too hard, too time consuming' enquiries. So should I just cherry-pick the easy ones? I think that would be a lazy attitude. Sometimes I have ignored a harder to understand query for a day or two but when nobody assists, and particularly if the poster is new or newish, I feel embarrassed for the forum. Unanswered queries is surely a way to dissuade posters.
Back to 'flat earth' people. What exactly is wrong with my dark matter comment? Perhaps it is not what but how I said it? Teddy made a valid point about opinions. In response I supported opinions as very valuable. I qualified this by devaluing opinions based on own beliefs (flat earth) when they challenge known laws. As I believe good teachers do I frequently use analogies and extreme examples. It is much easier to visualise extremes than small increments. Could I have said it better in a 3 point form?
- yes, opinions based upon personal experience can be very valuable
- opinions that contradict known and accepted laws are of little or no value
- unless you are an astrophysicist please don't waste my time with an opinion on dark matter
I can see only one problem with the last para in my actual post. It can be read as a personal instruction to Teddy. Not what I intended. At the time of writing my brain thought I was merely stating a generic principle.
Another thing I accept is that some technical people can have trouble communicating with non-technical people. Go no further than asking my poor wife. She gets pretty stroppy at times because she can't have a simple non-technical discussion with me