How unimportant is sci.math?

From: James Harris (jstevh_at_msn.com)
Date: 08/14/04 

Date: 14 Aug 2004 11:06:03 -0700

I've been pointing out for a while that Usenet doesn't matter, when I
think what's clear from my research is that sci.math doesn't matter to
the world at large and I have some data on that subject that I think
is of interest:

Several years ago I was in some stupid argument with some regular
posters including David Ullrich, one of the most prolific posters in
sci.math history, and at some point I claimed that David Ullrich had
acted as my lapdog in an instance.

Well his reply was freaky enough that I worried that maybe he'd
flipped out, so I apologized in a later reply.

Over a year went by...

In some other thread of mine, now over a year later, David Ullrich
replies saying that back then, over a year ago, he'd thought up a
racial slur as the "appropriate" reply to me but had been talked out
of giving it!!!

Like he's talking about posting a racial insult on a public forum?

Like if I were Chinese he was thinking of calling me a *** as the
"appropriate reply"?

Freaky.

Like consider this, David Ullrich is a math professor at Oklahoma
State University. It seems that he'd have some anxiety about
mentioning racial slurs on a public forum, let alone claiming to have
been ready to deliver one, if he had any notion that anyone paid
attention to the sci.math newsgroup.

Like, just to mention one group because they're big and scary,
Oklahoma State University has a football team with, I'm sure, people
of lots of ethnicities.

How would it look for recruitment if the big story was that an
Oklahoma State University professor was talking about thinking of
racial slurs out in public?

I was shocked at his statements and expressed my displeasure.

He defended them!!!

I felt I should notify Oklahoma State University of those statements
and of his other behavior as I was tired of his obsessive, and to me
inane, replies to my posts.

I was worried a bit there and thought that the university should know
about the *public* statements by this professor.

Well Ullrich just posted that I'd contacted his university and claimed
I was trying to get him fired, while continuing to defend his
statement.

Now I realize that he got away with all of that because sci.math is
not important, and the rest of the world doesn't pay attention.

Like, no one is worried about football players reading sci.math
postings!

I have yet to hear Ullrich back down from his statement, which
basically came out of the blue, more than a year after I made the
"lapdog" comment and apologized for it, as I guess that really hit his
ego for some reason, and he figured that the best way to get back at
me was a racial slur, to the extent that he said that over a year
later, even though I'd apologized soon after my statement!

Who knew lapdog was such a horrible insult? Like, to Ullrich, on par
with calling someone a *** based on his statement.

At one point I thought Ullrich was in his own little world, then I
realized that he may be typical for *actual* mathematicians, not
fantasy ones, so while yes, he's in his own little world, he may not
be alone in there.

After all, mathematicians aren't known for their social skills, now
are they?

On sci.math, Ullrich is probably normal among his like peers in an
ignored world where what's said doesn't matter anyway.

The majority of the world clearly just does not care about what's said
here.

James Harris

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