# Coberst -- shut the fuck up already **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 25, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200 "2006-08-25T14:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/41 "2006-08-25T21:10:55Z")
> [@Eleanor of Aquitaine](#): > > I have found **coberst** ’s posts intriguing, because I experience a strange, physical inability to read the words. It’s like the text is in soft focus, or in an illegible font. And I think I hear harp music. Shit - you too, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/42 "2006-08-25T21:46:34Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Same here, and I was going to protest vociferously! I did learn in one of the **coberst** threads that it’s considered jerkish to start more than one thread a day. I did not know that. **Excalibre** is right. If you, or any other normal, everyday poster starts a couple, three threads in a day, nobody will care. But if you do it everyday, sooner or later someone will say something about it. > [@Eleanor of Aquitaine](#): > > I have found coberst’s posts intriguing, because I experience a strange, physical inability to read the words. It’s like the text is in soft focus, or in an illegible font. And I think I hear harp music. I _love_ this description. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/43 "2006-08-25T21:50:00Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I was wondering if **twickster** is part Hungarian and was upset by that bridge-naming contest thing. I’ve known Hungarians who could get upset by pretty much anything. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/44 "2006-08-25T22:30:03Z")
Oh, have a heart. **Coberst** ’s sins are neither so obnoxious nor so uncommon that they deserve more than a little good-natured sandpapering, and they provide the opportunity for a fair amount of fun which s/he’s accepting, it seems, with pretty good grace. The board has always made room for empiricism, existentialism, pragmatism, idealism _and_ dorm-room bullsessionism, and it’s good that it continues to do so. If **Coberst** gets gobsmacked by a book and comes here in his/her secret identity as **BuberVerboBlender** to Tell Us All, it’s a relatively harmless form of secular humanist witnessing. Except instead of speaking in tongues, s/he’s…typing in fingers, or something. I counsel a relaxed attitude. On our journey to wit, few of us bypass the half-way point entirely. On the other hand, if s/he ever gets hold of Barthes or Marcuse, I may get all stabby with my computer monitor. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/45 "2006-08-25T22:37:54Z")
> [@The King of Soup](#): > > Oh, have a heart. **Coberst** ’s sins are neither so obnoxious nor so uncommon that they deserve more than a little good-natured sandpapering, and they provide the opportunity for a fair amount of fun which s/he’s accepting, it seems, with pretty good grace. **Coberst** may be a bit less obnoxious than our other One-Trick Ponies, but he’s still a One-Trick Pony. He’s never posted in any thread that he hasn’t started, and all of his threads are pretty damn similar. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/46 "2006-08-25T22:39:20Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Excuse me? I already explained to you how IQ testing works. I’m not going to offer a cite on something like that, which is frankly pretty common knowledge for anyone who’s taken basic statistics. You can find references in a million places to explain _exactly_ how IQ scores are normed; I’m sure Wikipedia would be a start. I gave a logical explanation of why that makes them completely useless for attempting to draw the conclusions you’re drawing. If you have a problem with my logic, please share it. I’d love to know if I’m wrong about this. I doubt you’ll be able to, though, until at very least you stop equating “IQ” with “intelligence” - as I’ve explained, one is a number that ranks you against your peers; the other thing is what the former attempts to quantify, and it hasn’t been uncontroversially demonstrated to exist as a measureable quantity. > > Uh-huh. Go learn some about introductory psychology. You can found out pretty easily that the very concept of “general intelligence” as an independent, measureable thing is not exactly uncontroversial. Look…you’re the one who turned a rant into a debate. If you wanna play “I know something you don’t know” go right ahead. I asked for a cite. Logic would assume that the number on an IQ test would change if the person’s intelligence changed. If that’s not the case, why not cite it when asked? General Intelligence may be controversial, but it hasn’t been discounted altogether as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/47 "2006-08-25T22:45:01Z")
> [@The King of Soup](#): > > Oh, have a heart. **Coberst** ’s sins are neither so obnoxious nor so uncommon that they deserve more than a little good-natured sandpapering, and they provide the opportunity for a fair amount of fun which s/he’s accepting, it seems, with pretty good grace. The board has always made room for empiricism, existentialism, pragmatism, idealism _and_ dorm-room bullsessionism, and it’s good that it continues to do so. If **Coberst** gets gobsmacked by a book and comes here in his/her secret identity as **BuberVerboBlender** to Tell Us All, it’s a relatively harmless form of secular humanist witnessing. Except instead of speaking in tongues, s/he’s…typing in fingers, or something. I counsel a relaxed attitude. On our journey to wit, few of us bypass the half-way point entirely. > > On the other hand, if s/he ever gets hold of Barthes or Marcuse, I may get all stabby with my computer monitor. Has he actually started to respond to people yet, instead of lecturing? He didn’t in GD. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/48 "2006-08-25T22:46:05Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Look…you’re the one who turned a rant into a debate. If you wanna play “I know something you don’t know” go right ahead. I asked for a cite. Logic would assume that the number on an IQ test would change if the person’s intelligence changed. If that’s not the case, why not cite it when asked? General Intelligence may be controversial, but it hasn’t been discounted altogether as far as I know. Why? Because I already freaking explained it to you. It’s not like how IQ tests are scored needs to be the subject of intellectual debate and evidence-gathering. If you don’t know, go read about it. It’s not the sort of thing that you can “cite” like you can offer up evidence as to the mass of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/49 "2006-08-26T00:21:10Z")
> [@The King of Soup](#): > > On the other hand, if s/he ever gets hold of Barthes or Marcuse, I may get all stabby with my computer monitor. “We switched **coberst** ’s _Philosophy for Dummies_ with Jacques Derrida: Let’s see what happens…” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/50 "2006-08-26T00:43:09Z")
**coberst** = **JustThink Jr**. To me, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/51 "2006-08-26T12:37:27Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > It’s the latest installment of the Coberst Manifesto (we read it here first – **or not** ); and because he has chosen to enlighten us, without any actual interest in feedback from us, it’s irrelevant whether there are replies or not – the annoyingness quotient is the same. (my bolding) Well I also frequent the James Randi Educational Foundation forums, and he’s posted lots of overly verbose OPs there too. And in unrelated news, I seem to be having inexplicable blackouts which last a few hours at a time… and I wake up at the computer screen… :eek: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/52 "2006-08-26T12:50:37Z")
Heh. I was referring to “read it [or not],” but “here first [or not]” seems equally plausible. I mean, now that he’s figured out all this shit, it does behoove him to exhort the rest of us, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/53 "2006-08-26T13:03:53Z")
I’ll say this of **coberst** : I only need to read the first line or so of a post to know it’s by him without checking the username. Of course, since I then exit the thread without reading further, this is not exactly a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/54 "2006-08-27T04:52:42Z")
Now I could be wrong, but after reading two or three of **coberst’s** posts, I have the distinct impression that she is a remarkable woman and not a man. Just call it a hunch. And I _like_ her posts! There’s nothing out-dated about Buber. And those who haven’t been exposed to him before – and many here have not – might find him interesting just as you did, **twister** , thirty years ago. Now you find it to be “woo-woo philosophical shit”? What happened to your perspective? **coberst** , Dopers tend to like applied philosophy best. Give them a real life dilemma and suggest that you may have had an emotional response to it and we will be all over you telling you whether you had the right to feel that way or not. Then we will determine the merits of each other’s responses and the rights of each poster to post whatever we’ve posted. Someone will devise scales to measure worthiness of emotional responses and of rights. (Three empathies is equal to eight sympathies, isn’t it? And I do have four rights to say that!) I hope that you continue to probe with your questions. But I also hope that you will give us a chance to get to know you better on a more informal and mundane level. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/55 "2006-08-27T08:38:28Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Well I also frequent the James Randi Educational Foundation forums, and he’s posted lots of overly verbose OPs there too. Randi not only gives real-life examples, but responds to readers. He conducts experiments and takes the investigation of psychics seriously Although Coberst is harmless, he simply waffles in vague terms and never debates. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/56 "2006-08-27T10:35:26Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Randi not only gives real-life examples, but responds to readers. He conducts experiments and takes the investigation of psychics seriously > > Although Coberst is harmless, he simply waffles in vague terms and never debates. I could be wrong, but I think **Nancarrow** meant that **Coberst** has posted such messages on the forums over at the JREF site … not that Randi’s messages there are similar to **Coberst** ’s posts here. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/57 "2006-08-27T11:51:27Z")
Yup. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/58 "2006-08-27T12:49:43Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > And I _like_ her posts! God bless you. Seriously. > [@Zoe](#): > > There’s nothing out-dated about Buber. And those who haven’t been exposed to him before – and many here have not – might find him interesting just as you did, **twister** , thirty years ago. Now you find it to be “woo-woo philosophical shit”? What happened to your perspective? No, there’s nothing outdated about Buber – but, as I pointed out in the thread linked to in the OP, _I and Thou_ was published in the '20s – it’s not exactly cutting edge. My objection is not his (and that’s how I see **coberst** , so I’m gonna stick with that set of pronouns – my apologies if I got it wrong) quoting Buber in and of itself. My objections are: [ol] [li]That despite his “footnote,” he’s not really making clear which words are his and which are from the source quoted.[/li][li]That the source quoted is a secondary source, not Buber himself; I’m always in favor of going back to the horse’s mouth.[/li][li]That it is contrary to Dope culture to merely present some chunk of [whatever] without some reflection or commentary by the OP. This is no different than someone providing a link to a news story or the like without any additional remarks – a practice that is frowned on here, and that will get a thread closed by the mods.[/li][li]Regurgitating such stuff, unmediated by one’s own take on the material, consitutes philosophical woo-woo – if you don’t rephrase the material in a way that indicates you understand its significance, then, yeah, you’re just going “woo woo.” (This from someone with three degrees in religion who taught at the college level for several years. I’ve heard sophomoric\* woo-woo.)[/li][/ol] If **coberst** were to write an OP where he said “I’ve been reading X. My understanding is that the author is saying Y. Thinking about this, it occurs to me that Z. What do you think?” I would have no problem with what he’s doing. Coming in and spewing his woo-woo without carefully indicating his sources or demonstrating any evidence that he’s processed the material in any way – well, shut the fuck up, **coberst**. \*I am repeatedly, and deliberately, calling **coberst** sophomoric. The word means, literally, “wise fool” – as in someone who parrots the words of others without understanding what they mean. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/59 "2006-08-27T18:26:45Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I could be wrong, but I think **Nancarrow** meant that **Coberst** has posted such messages on the forums over at the JREF site … not that Randi’s messages there are similar to **Coberst** ’s posts here. Thanks for clearing that up! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200/60 "2006-08-27T20:54:50Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I could be wrong, but I think **Nancarrow** meant that **Coberst** has posted such messages on the forums over at the JREF site … not that Randi’s messages there are similar to **Coberst** ’s posts here. Not just there. If you do a web search on “Would you be interested in some disinterested knowledge?” (the title of one of his early threads), you’ll find that he started the same thread on several other message boards, with the same OP. And my guess is that he’s also posted to other boards that aren’t searchable by Google. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coberst-shut-the-fuck-up-already/370200.md?page=4)