# How do I ban smart-assed individuals who post in my general questions? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 24, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159 "2019-08-24T14:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**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, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/81 "2019-08-27T15:35:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The snark, IMHO, is in the “Easy-Peasy, Lemon-Squeezy” comment and also part of the tone (the exclamation mark, etc.) I think that last line was informal, but it really doesn’t seem snarky to me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/82 "2019-08-27T15:40:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Reboot your computer, and then read the thread again. > > Regards, > Shodan Reboot it? I haven’t even booted it once yet (thanks to anger management classes). ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/83 "2019-08-27T16:54:33Z")
I think the question is ambiguous. Ficer67 asks, “So, how can I fix this?” What is “this?” Is it, A) coping with the discrepancy between the numbering of the “hard copy” and the pages as counted by MS Edge, B) altering the way MS Edge counts pages in a PDF, or, C) altering the way pages are encoded in a particular PDF? excavating answered question A. This is the most practical way to deal with the problem (besides maybe printing the PDF). B is impossible (assuming based on the thread) because the MS Edge PDF renderer is basic and light on features. C is impractical for most users. I would use a command line tool on linux. There are probably dozens of finnicky, GUI shovelware PDF editors for Windows, but you’d need to research a good one that supports exactly the feature you want, maybe buy it, and learn to use it. Ain’t nobody got time for that. So the solution to use Adobe Reader is good. And, excavating’s response was reasonable: it’s the fastest, easiest way, in the context of the question as asked. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/84 "2019-08-27T17:22:38Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > We’re all asses here! Some of us are smart asses, and some of us are dumb asses. Shouldn’t asses be graded on the curve? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/85 "2019-08-27T19:54:40Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Shouldn’t asses be graded on the curve? I’d like to know the intended purpose of grading. I don’t want to have to later ask what asses assessment meant. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/86 "2019-08-27T20:13:14Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’d like to know the intended purpose of grading. I don’t want to have to later ask what asses assessment meant. It’s prep for when you’re planning an a-butt-ment. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/87 "2019-08-27T22:42:45Z")
This thread has me considering ponying up for the custom title of “Licensed Smartass.” But I don’t think I will, because that’d be too hard to live up too. There are too many others around here who are better at it than I am. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/88 "2019-08-28T01:13:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > This thread has me considering ponying up for the custom title of “Licensed Smartass.” > > But I don’t think I will, because that’d be too hard to live up too. There are too many others around here who are better at it than I am. If you’re licensed, the mods can’t give you warnings. Or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/89 "2019-08-28T02:44:10Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > This thread has me considering ponying up for the custom title of “Licensed Smartass.” > > But I don’t think I will, because that’d be too hard to live up too. There are too many others around here who are better at it than I am. You’re welcome to my fall-back if you want it Where am I going? Why am I in this hand-basket? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/90 "2019-08-28T03:04:11Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > Me too, for quite a few years. And that was absolutely \*not \*the answer I would have given. I don’t understand how it could come across as anything other than sarcastic and condescending. > > It may be that you could have phrased the same answer, in substance, in such a way that it didn’t come across that way. Or that your organization is a bit looser than my employer. > > But I wouldn’t have done it. Note that I said **substantively**. In other words, if you’re using Edge to view PDFs, you accept its limitations and it’s not difficult to mentally adjust page count. I do it all the time with various PDF readers; if I have a book in PDF form in iBooks for example I just adapt. But as you implied I wouldn’t have used the same tone. I don’t even use that tone on these boards when offering help, which I do on occasion, let alone in my professional role in real life. It requires some humility to ask for help, and a person is making themselves vulnerable when doing so. I don’t think I need to spit on them and make them feel stupid as I help them, because next time they’re not going to bother asking and take the risk of looking stupid again. I never disputed the idea that people were being smart-asses. I disputed the assertion that they were “people who don’t know anything”, and by implication were not answering the request for help. That’s absolutely not true; the question was answered correctly. If the complaint was merely about the **way** the answer was phrased I’d have supported the OP. But that wasn’t the complaint, and the OP didn’t really do much to earn my sympathy here. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159/91 "2019-08-28T03:21:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Be that as it may, I think that mockery or sarcasm in such threads may also discourage posters from participating or contributing as well… I don’t think the OP’s question about PDFs fits that description, but GQ ought to be a forum in which people can ask any factual question they want, and get a serious, factual response. And _then_ some clever comments? Please? I don’t just want a dry dictionary answer. I come here for some wit with my facts, and a more creative solution. Actually, it’s exactly what I’d get if I asked one of the geniuses at work. Sure, I could get a harmless answer from Bertram in Accounts Receivable. But Roberta in Design will look at my problem from five different angles, give me a new answer I’d’ve never thought of by myself… and then make a comment about all the pockets in my “Dad Shorts”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ban-smart-assed-individuals-who-post-in-my-general-questions/839159.md?page=4)