No, it’s where you have two bells. There are also J distributions, U distributions (most bra curves would officially be named Us)…
“Smart” comes in two forms. The first is simply being a repository of facts, which often comes with just being old. The second is the ability to think, allowing a sort of mental evolutionary process to take place in which facts drive out bull shit.
I think it’s a little more complicated than that. There’s certainly a distinction between “knowing things” and “critical thinking skills” including problem-solving skills, but not everyone who grows old is equivalent in their possession of facts. A key difference is the innate intelligence that drives things like curiosity and the ability to distinguish good sources of information from bad. Someone who has spent 60 years absorbing relatively little information, much of it bullshit, is going to be very different from a discriminating learner who has spent the same amount of time in the motivated pursuit of real knowledge. We tend to associate poor factual knowledge with relatively low intelligence and a high level of knowledge with the converse, and within reasonable limits that does tend to be true, for that reason.
As always, the only experiences I have are my own. Here’s what I can say about some of the other places I’ve been at:
YouTube - This one gets a ton of flack (not entirely undeserved), but the self-policing system seems to work for the most part, and it does a pretty good job of weeding out the cretins. Not as fast as I’d like, but then it’s a huge place. I do run into a lot of uncomfortable conversations, but it’s more like childish name-calling than really heated flame warring.
GameFAQs - It’s improved a little from the post-CJayC apocalyptic crapstorm that drove me away from the place, but there’s still tons of rampant immaturity, virtually nobody ever gets banned, and the discussions are very rarely at all interesting or informative.
Cracked - The best that can be said for it is that if you don’t act like a putz, nobody’s going to act like a putz to you (which is why I’m willing to post there). But ignorance is absolutely rampant, and you have to wade through a lot of crap to find the smart, witty, or heartfelt posts. (Very satisfying when I do find them, though!)
We Hunted The Mammoth - Man, I love this place! If anything, it’s more civilized than here (especially after the doors got thrown open). David Futrelle does an absolutely bang-up job weeding out all the jerks, trolls, creeps, troublemakers, etc., and the regulars are some of the most thoughtful and likable posters you’ll ever meet. Limited subject matter, though, so not for everyone.
Twitter/Facebook - With all the horror stories I’ve read, it’s a miracle I wasn’t driven away for good. There are some really good people here, and I gladly follow their feeds on a regular basis, but no way in bloody hell would I ever be crazy enough to post anything to this space.
IMDB - Hit and miss, usually the latter, unfortunately. Same problem as GameFAQs; lots of petty “Did not!” “Did too!” bickering and rarely anything of real substance. Some of the lesser known or limited-release films may have worthwhile discussions.
DailyKos - Not a big fan of this place even though I agree with them more often than not because, well, there’s hardly any discussion here. Everyone knows what the party line is and nobody dares go against it, even for subjects that should be disputed (e.g. Hillary Clinton). They do have some really good cartoons, though.
As for why I’ve been so steadfastly loyal to this site (proud member since 2000!), the simple reason is that it was pretty much the only site at the time that got things right. I.e. require that posters not be flaming jerks, enforce this requirement, and ban everyone who fails to comply. Oh, and also ban all those other malcontents like spammers and death threateners. Simply put, don’t tolerate crap. Such a simple concept, and how long did it take the rest of the Internet to catch on. Adding subscriptions made it even better; now there was a material incentive to play by the rules and not get banned.
So yes, Dopers as a whole are smarter than in a great many other places, and funnier, and more interesting, and more thoughtful, and more compassionate…by design. Any other place can be just as good if they bother to make the effort.
Oh yeah, another thing that helps a lot: DIVERSITY. How many “Ask the ____” threads have there been? How many arguments over subjects you’d never even heard about before have there been? We get all kinds here, and instead of shouting them down or hurling slurs at them or ridiculing them or ostracizing them, we welcome them. We hear what they have to say and respond in good faith. That leads to a richer environment, a better-informed user base, and, in turn, smarter discussions. Makes sense?
to your (and monstro’s) point, another big thing is that the Internet world has moved on from message boards. Another board I’ve been on for a long time (Ars Technica) is teetering on the brink of “ghost town.” Seems message boards just eventually condense into a relative handful of regulars shooting the shit, which could be the reason debates aren’t interesting anymore. We know each other fairly well (in a sense,) we usually know what each other thinks about a subject, so there’s not much to “debate” so much as bicker.
I didn’t come to the Dope to answer questions. I came because I needed questions answered. So I may be dragging the GPA closer to average and I’m probably not alone.
I’d agree with that. I’ve drifted away from most of the military small arms discussion boards I used to frequent because basically everything that could be said had been said, and helping people showing up with “What’s this old gun my grandad gave me?” was becoming less and less of a fun way to help people get into the hobby and more of a chore.
Very occasionally something exciting happens in the world of military surplus small arms - a new cache of interesting stuff gets found in part of the former Soviet Union, for example, or news photos from a conflict somewhere show quite a few people armed with WWI/WWII-era firearms - but for the most part there isn’t a lot of “new” discussion to be had.
Which means, as you say, it basically ends up as a group of regulars sitting around shooting the breeze and having good-natured arguments over trivia with each other. And that’s fine sometimes.
One of the things I like here is there there’s still a pretty diverse group of people with some interesting experiences and viewpoints.