That shouldn’t affect things.
That said, I think Ms.Whatsit made a very good point.
Studi
Wouldn’t ASL for “hello” be a friendly wave?
Wouldn’t “fuck you” be an extended middle finger?
I think that’s USL: Universal Sign Language. However, as I know almost no ASL (and what I do remember is some letters), it could be, for all of me:)
I don’t know handy, and none of his posts has really jumped out at me, well… with exception of anything involving STD’s or sex in general that is, but after reading the thread mentioned in the OP, I have to say that handy actually posted the correct answer. All banks are a little bit different. My Debit/Visa will work as debit but not credit at one store, and will work as a credit card only in others. When I called my bank, I was told that the processing is different than some of the other banks in the area, and after some techno-babble, turns out that “that’s just how it is”. Sure, handy could have expanded a little bit, but his answer is the best one in that particular thread. Had he written two paragraphs of babble, prior to giving his short answer, would the reaction have been different? I think it would have.
After looking around though now, and seeing a lot of the “drive-by’s” here and there, yeah I can see where it can be seen as rude and obnoxious. However, I personally find it to be a lot less rude than what many other people do in here quite often:
Q: Why is the sky blue?
A#1: Had you bothered to do a simple SDMB search you’d have noticed that this was talked about here <link> 10 months before you showed up here. (Don’t bother us with silly questions we’ve already answered… it wastes our valuable time as we have to spend much more time searching ourselves to be able to say this and make you feel stupid than if we had just answered the question.
A#2: After I spent a total of 5 whole minutes searching google I found your answer here <link> (I didn’t know the answer either so I’m just as stupid as you, but I will make sure that you and others view me as more intelligent than yourself because I know how to use a search engine better than you).
A lot of wrong information gets posted, but it usually gets corrected fairly quickly. I just think that if handy should get bashed, so should a lot of others, and yes, this may even include myself. It’s a message board. Nobody is perfect.
I used to work with two deaf guys when I was an electrician, the way they taught it to me, (and they took pride in teaching the cuss words) to say “Fuck you” in ASL make the “peace sign” with both hands (extend only the index and middle fingers). Have one hand palm up, the back of the hand facing the ground and then tap the palms together, preferably the fingers as close to the same direction as possible (the fingers are “legs”). That is how you say “Fuck” The “you” part is just pointing at the other person.
Gosh, [sub]it is the pit, I can say gosh right?[/sub] I certainly did not mean to cause a pit thread.
I have been annoyed with handy’s posting style ever since I started at SDMB. But, I still haven’t forgiven him for this thread. (What can I say, I hold a grudge.) Eve said she was walking about 2 miles a day but really needed to lose 10-15 pounds. She was considering running for 30 minutes a day. After well over a page of helpful and encouraging advice handy felt the need to say this.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=80939&pagenumber=2
I guess that is why I said something to him about his answer in the debit card thread. If I wasn’t mad about the other I probably would have ignored him. I wish I had ignored him. I hate to have caused this to be started.
I am sorry.
Zumba: You did not cause a Pit thread. Handy did. I have been irritated with his posting style for quite some time now, and this latest thread just happened to be the one that put me over the edge.
Turbo: I agree that many other posters do incredibly rude and/or annoying things, some of them as consistently as Handy. However, that does not excuse Handy’s behavior, especially in threads like the one Zumba just quoted. It is true that nobody is perfect, but when your posting style is so clearly obnoxious, frustrating, and irritating to so many other users, would it be that difficult to take two seconds to think about (or research) your post before hitting Submit? And a comment like the one he made to Eve is not only obnoxious and rude, but also incorrect. Yes, it is relatively easy to correct people who post incorrect information, but why should we have to in the first place?
Again, I realize that other people do this as well, not just Handy, but since Handy has apparently made it his goal to post in every single thread on this message board (I exaggerate, but only slightly), I see it from him far more often than from anyone else.
You are wise, Master.
As I’ve said in previous handy threads, it’s not that easy. He often posts very wrong information about important issues (health, computer, and legal related stuff). I feel bad for the people who think he might actually be right and try to take his wrong advice. He also blatently contradicts people even when shown he’s incorrect.
I doubt your spot of paint does that.
I think being deaf is something of an excuse. Imagine yourself with difficulty communicating other than on a message board. I think many people might be tempted to post more often, even absent silly “post count” considerations.
Give the poor guy a break and be happy that you are not yourself handicapped.
(I don’t think anyone should take advice about serious matters from a message board. This should be obvious).
I’m new, but I’ve been lurking for some time.
I could not help but notice handy. He’s everywhere.
If he ever wrote something that was more than two lines, or informative, or even correct, I missed it.
If such a post actually exists, could someone provide a link?
I’ll print it and frame it.
Well, he’s got more than enough practice communicating on this message board. And, he’s shown that he’s completely oblivious to criticism, or even correcting his often-incorrect “facts.” See the above and prior threads where he’s been called out in here.
I am not handicapped, and I am grateful for that. However, I am partially hearing impaired, so I have some (not much, but some) measure of understanding toward the world handy is in. However, breaks have been given. He is self-centered, wrong, and often rude.
The nice thing about the Pit is that it (somewhat) helps to self-regulate the SDMB. If someone is incorrect, people have an opportunity to flame and convince the objector that what they said/did was wrong. We’ve attempted to do that for handy three times, so far, to little or no avail.
Why?
Because he refuses to read the Pit, he says. How immature.
He may be deaf, I may be hearing, but he’s still rude, inconsiderate, prone to posting useless and often incorrect information. And, the second he attempts to remedy that is the second I give him a break.
Deafness does not excuse stupidity.
Wrong. When I imagine myself being unable to commuicate outside this (or any other) message board, I imagine myself trying to convey that, although I can’t communicate as easily as everyone else, I’m still sharp as a tack. I’d want the only people who will ever be exposed to my thoughts and ideas (that’s you guys, the readers of the message board) to think that my thoughts are intelligent, that my ideas are good. I know I wouldn’t spend my days here spreading ignorance and misinformation because I certainly wouldn’t want you, being the only people I can easily communicate with, to think I’m a complete fucking moron.
Handy’s deafness has absolutely and utterly nothing to do with anything. Sign language is my first language, my parents are both deaf although I am hearing, and I grew up mostly among deaf people. I’m well aware of the communication difficulties that deaf people face. Handy has professed knowledge of ASL in threads relevant to it, as I’ve noted because they’re of interest to me too.
The misinformation and rubbish that Handy posts are nothing to do with this communication barrier. It’s perfectly possible to not be able to hear and yet think coherantly and sensibly before you say something, neither of which Handy seems to do. His drive-by postings fuck me off and I don’t think it’s too much to ask that he stops and thinks before spouting the same old shit, particularly in sex threads and computer threads. It’s tiresome to have to keep rolling my eyes so damn hard every time I see his posts.
Jesus, doesn’t everyone already KNOW that?
I have to say, I have an extremely high post count, for someone who’s only been here a year, but that’s because I have no life. 
I am not excusing his being self centered and rude, if indeed he is. But the title of this thread is about his being a drive-by poster, as are the posts to this point, and I think that is somewhat excusable.
Do you really take this seriously? To me its like saying “we’ve told you you’re an idiot three times already, SO STOP BEING SUCH AN IDIOT!!!”.
I would also note that handy does tend to receive some dissenting support in these threads, and he likely concurs with those opinions.
Maybe. It’s possible that were you actually in that situation you would value interaction more than pride. But its also possible that your priorities are different.
I’ve not seen anyone suggest that handy posts the way he does because of a communication barrier. Rather, that his standards on what to post are not as high as another person’s might be. And this because he is more motivated to post than most people, because posting is the major interaction that he has with people. Of course, with some people - e.g. many of the participants in this thread - this interaction is a negative one, and is probably not worth having. But fortunately there are other, more forgiving and tolerant people out there.
Zette, I agree that it would be desirable to not have somebody consistently posting misinformation on a message board dedicated to fighting ignorance.
My point was simply that there have been handy gripe threads in the past and this approach to addressing his degradation of the board has always produced zip alteration in his posting behavior. The only time I really remember his actually acknowledging what was going on here was when he held his post count at 9,999 for a few weeks. In other words, he’s not going to change.
And, while he has PO’d various mods at times, he doesn’t appear to be in any imminent danger of being banned.
Wasn’t it Thoreau who gave us the homily “Ride easy in harness?” Well, dear, ride easy in harness and don’t let that burr under the saddle bug your ass.
I’d be happy if he would just stop calling a penis a pee pee.
[channelling handy]
There is a kind of pen now you can buy at hardware places that matches most car paint colours. You can just write over it and get rid of that spot in a few minutes.
You ought to keep your cars looking neat as it affects the resale value, especially an old one like yours probably is.
You can look up the resale value in a secret book that all the car dealers have under the counter.
[/channelling handy]
I can see why he does it - it’s exhilarating!!
beatle’s right - the boy ain’t gonna change. So if you can’t beat them…
Redhandy