Re: How unimportant is sci.math?

From: Karl-Olav Nyberg (konyberg_at_online.no)
Date: 08/15/04 

Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 03:53:51 +0200

"James Harris" <jstevh@msn.com> skrev i melding
news:3c65f87.0408141006.51d394e9@posting.google.com...
> 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

Is this a defence of your mathematics? Or is it just a "dumb ass"
retreaval"?
Karl-Olav Nyberg