I rest my case. Your response to me is a perfect example of what you were doing, and what provoked what you perceived as “attacks”; you’ve just pretty much accused me of stupidity in response to a factual disagreement. That sentence right there is the sort of thing that provokes these “attacks” on you.
I don’t know why you can’t see that, but there it is. And while your posting style continues to be like that, I’m pretty sure you, indeed, won’t feel any sense of community here.
It’s not what you were saying, it’s how you chose to say it. Just like here.
Sorry, man. You’ll need to change your posting style if you wanna stop being “attacked”.
Really?? I suppose it depends upon how you use it and the time of day. For me SDMB is too fast most of the time. By the time I see a thread I’d like to discuss, someone else has already made my point, possibly several times over.
Not that I’m complaining, it’s a good board.
My method is to click on New Posts so all activity shows up.
Apart from here I belong to two other more specialised NZ forums which are small (by comparison) and have a good sense of community.
I must partially rise in defense of benbo1. After reading this thread I went over to the referenced thread about ‘Science Can’t Explain’ (or whatever.)
The very first response after benbo1’s initial post said of one of his items “This sounds like simple bullshit.”
I’d have to say that’s an unwarranted “first strike” and diplays the “how you say it” shortcoming discussed here.
I am not suppprting any of benbo1’s responses or positions in that thread or this one, but merely stating that in my opinion at least he did not throw the first stone.
But there were craploads of people who were perfectly civil to him, and merely disagreed with him or asked for cites (which is, as we know, customary in this forum and not the actions of “whiny nitpickers”).
If he’d had a problem with just one person, it would be a personality clash. When you have a problem with most of the people in the thread - you need to understand what the common denominator is.
I’ve asked many questions about physics, cosmology, etc., often about something I read or heard claimed. It has not been unusual for people to point out that what I was referring to was “bullshit”, not me. The difference was obvious. Likewise it should have been for benbo1 when someone said what she’d heard or read “sounds like simple bullshit.”
But let’s not forget this Board’s wonderful bouts of pedantry…
To wit:
Isn’t there supposed to be a comma between ‘carelessness’ and ‘and’ in your post? (actually, if I remember correctly it’s optional… I really don’t know. I was just funnin’ you.)
And, because I’m responding to silenus, I’m reminded of something that relates to benbo1’s complaints that basically we’re just a big high school clique and nobody will ever like him here.
I remember slinging some mud around with silenus for a while. I think it was over something in a signature that one of us was using… I don’t really remember. What I do remember was thinking “What a jerk that silenus guy is!” I carried that pointless grudge around with me for six months or so.
But it was just a silly grudge and the whole thing was maybe all my fault anyway. I’d probably been on the board for 2 or 3 years at that point yet I was still learning how to properly interact with others here (I’m obnoxious and a slow learner–YMMV).
Now I enjoy reading his posts and think he’s just peachy. Don’t know what he thinks of me but it doesn’t really matter; it isn’t the point because I’m not trying to get elected Most Popular Dude on the SDMB. My point is directed at benbo1’s concerns:
A with any group/organization/club it can take a little time to learn the norms here
If you come in here at first acting all silly, people are going to call you on it. If you do that in the Pit, it could go really badly for you. And yet…
If you learn to be part of the community and don’t keep poking folks in the eye, people will come around and treat you with respect.
Just about everyone goes through growing pains while getting adjusted (and yes, to some degree, accepted) here. The curve varies with everyone but it’s no different than interacting with any other group of people on the net or IRL.
Steer clear of the Cracked forums, which I had thought might have a similar level of discussion / banter.
<rant>
I started a thread about an article, which a mod decided was a slight against the writer (it wasn’t meant that way – I thought it was a good article). I was flamed worse than I’ve ever been, by the mod, and the thread was immediately locked, so I had no chance to reply.
Somewhere there is a list of forums ''Big [something]. One might be able to find what they were after there. I never found it useful and misplaced my link.
Was gonna multiquote, but why bother? Anyone reading thru the whole thread, as Silenus did, will obviously see the antagonistic attitude of those who feel their basic tenets challenged. For example, there was the tautology that ‘opposite’ side of the world MUST be their definition of antipodal - their minds simply couldn’t wrap around the alternate concept, the Marianas being opposite the Bermuda Triangle in the same hemisphere. All I can say is get a real globe, and look what’s almost 180` across in the same hemisphere. But these people would rather flame than look at a globe. It’s a classic style of the loser of the argument to attack the style of the presenter (i.e. crax about spelling, grammar, etc.). This is a public internet forum, not English class.
Fortunately, I ain’t thin-skinned, but admit trying to please the Gang of 4 or 5 by repeatedly backing up my claims did get irritating. Rest assured, it won’t happen again; I will address legitimate questions & comments, but ignore the trolls. It’s fine with me just to be right, to participate, and to learn. And to have the sense of satisfaction of still having 8 out of the original 10 points I brought forward unexplained. As referenced previously, the nurse explained the role gallbladders play in digesting hi-fat diets [now go flame on ‘hi’ instead of ‘high’, Gang of 4 or 5 :D], and some1 else pointed out sharks do indeed get cancer. I admitted those were indeed not mysteries anymore, and thanked the posters for elucidating. But the enjoyment of having generated *some *intelligent discussion is still worth suffering troll flames. I’ll continue to participate but ‘sense of community’ - I call ‘bullshit’. As some1 else wrote, maybe after a few months of getting to know some1, a *detente *is reached. But it’s exactly how some1 treats some1 that they don’t know, that’s a good indicator of character. Of course, it’s ez to flame & hide behind the anonymity of the internet. But personal attax interfere with those people (especially newbies) cruising the boards, trying to learn, and debating whether to participate.
Anyway, life’s too short to indulge bullshit. Enjoy the mysteries, & looking forward to constructive stimulating discussion anon.
I wonder if there’s a Special Little Snowflake board where everyone uses their own particular cutesy spellings of ‘someone’ and other words, takes pride their ignorance of homophones and likes to use inane abbreviations. It would be so meta to buck their conventions and use nominally standard English. Sure, most of what I’d have to say would be discounted and all, but hey, I’d be sticking it to the man!
The Bermuda triangle is 122.6 degrees from the Marianas. So apparently you are willing to count 180 degrees plus or minus 57.4 degrees as “antipodal”. I went ahead and did the math: if you choose any two points on the globe at random, there is a 60% chance that, by your criterium, you would call them “antipodal.” This is one small example of how clueless you seem to be about the cogency of your argument.
once again: as previously stated, the latitude of Bermuda is 32º 20 North 64º 45´ West of Greenwich. Japan is 36° 0’ 0" N / 138° 0’ 0" East of Greenwich. The latitudes are already close. So, going horizontally, from Bermuda (with its Triangle) to Japan (near the Dragon Triangle & Marianas), you would have to go a total of 64 + 138 degrees, which = 202. Since these are approximate areas, the original statement stands - the 2 Triangles are almost opposite. Also, simply look at a real globe. And, I never said they were antipodally - I keep saying that I’m not saying antipod. But I don’t suppose that’ll matter either.
Thanx for proving my other point too, about the lack of basic manners practiced by trolls, re the ‘clueless’ remark.
I’m not sure what significance you think “going horizontally” has. Does “going vertically” count too? What about “going diagonally?” This is why no one is taking your argument seriously. BTW, if you pick any two points on the globe at random, and look for points that are within 22 degrees of 180 degrees “going horizontally” or “going vertically”, there is a 24% chance of striking gold.
