Ruby
April 7, 2012, 7:29pm
81
Damn, my secret’s out. Yes, Astroboy14 , it was you.
digs
April 8, 2012, 1:16am
82
Hey, I learned to do that here! I think it was from Otto, back in the day.
Reply:
Man, I love this place. It makes me feel like a complete idiot, which I LOVE because it gives my tormented ego a rest. In the rest of my life there’s almost zero intellectual stimulation and most people around me put me on this pedestal of “you’re so smart, you should be doing X and Y and Z…” etc that I’m never able to actually reach. Consequently, I always feel like a failure.
Here, I can tell myself that I’m not that smart after all (and if I don’t, somebody else will surely come along shortly to prove it). I’m just one insignificant voice out of many and it’s incredibly comforting knowing that there are smarter people out there doing much more work than I could ever dream of
Quoted for sheer awesomeness.
Scumpup:
There’s being made to feel stupid and there’s merely being made to feel bad. While I’m sure the former does happen here from time to time, the second is far more common; especially when new members take their first tentative steps into The Pit. We have some genuine experts on various topics here, and who they are is generally pretty obvious and not something subject to dispute. We have a far greater population of garden-variety sarcastic assholes (of whom, yes, I am one).
That’s an interesting point. Is your opinion that this is a “right of passage”–because I see a lot of double standards…
Double standards? Hell, we’re up into triple digits at least!
So what? Better double standards than no standards at all.
I have a pit but that I am really wanting to throw out there–now more than ever thanks to the Kinkade thread–but I don’t know if the potential for personal backlash and name calling is worth it. That is frustrating.
Isamu
April 8, 2012, 4:26pm
88
Life makes me feel stupid. Straight Dope Message Board makes me feel lucky to have what I have.
