Re: Being balanced

From: David C. Ullrich (ullrich_at_math.okstate.edu)
Date: 03/27/05 

Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 05:43:31 -0600

On 26 Mar 2005 17:12:25 -0800, jstevh@msn.com wrote:

>C. Bond wrote:
>> jstevh@msn.com wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> > Usually, if I'm talking about a problem on Usenet I'm brainstorming
>it.
>>
>> According to the bulk of your posting record (you can check this at
>any
>> time), you are usually *promoting* a so-called solution to a problem,
>not
>> brainstorming. In the majority of your posts you are defending your
>cause,
>> regardless of its merits, with a vigorous, sometimes militant, and
>> sometimes hysterical passion. In the rest of your posts, you are
>generally
>> snivelling about liars and conspirators. Neither of these is
>> 'brainstorming'.
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>
>Well, yeah, I've spent a lot of time promoting ideas that I'm
>brainstorming, and I've done so in highly creative ways.

"Creative". Right. Like for example the following is a
creative approach to defending your ideas, right?

<quote: Message-ID="3c65f87.0401051507.45c5603c@posting.google.com">

[you:]
> >You see, the conventional thinking is that you can divide 7 from both
> >sides and
> >still be in the ring of algebraic integers, because algebraic integer
> >are infinitely decomposable,
>

[me:]
> What??? Who thinks that?
>
> The only person I know who thinks this thing you call "the
> conventional thinking" is _you_.

[you:]
You stupid *** head!!! What the *** is wrong with you Ullrich?

No matter how many fucking times I tell you to fuck off, you keep
replying to me!!!

What the *** is your problem you shithead?

You Ullrich are a stupid piece of dumb *** who refuses to get the
message when someone does NOT want to talk to you, you stupid fucking
shitty ***.

You are an *** Ullrich!!! Now why don't you take your dumb ass
stupid self somewhere to GET A FUCKING CLUE and QUIT FUCKING REPLYING
TO ME AS IF I EVER WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*** OFF!!!!

Can't you get it through your stupid head?

*** OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

</quote>

>It's a creative process.

Yes, I think anyone would agree that you show a lot of creativity
above.

>There are people who get angry about my posting.

No. Really? I wonder why that would be?

>And they are angry enough to reply obsessively in the negative to my
>posts.
>
>For me brainstorming is generating a lot of ideas in a particular
>problem area, and putting them out there.
>
>There are posters who get angry, so they come after my posts with a lot
>of extra, so I end up defending ideas early in the process to keep them
>from being unfairly trashed.
>
>Worse, I've seen posters make questionable claims, so that their
>counterclaims against my ideas have to be critiqued carefully, which is
>just extra work that I don't like doing, so I often would shift to
>avoiding their claims, or quickly dismissing them if I could find any
>basis for doing so, as they weren't reliable.
>
>Now, however, in the critical phase, I can go slowly and carefully
>considering both my own ideas and claims against them, without fear
>that the now mature ideas will be tossed prematurely.
>
>You see, with mature ideas you don't have to actively defend them.
>
>If they can't stand against anyone and everyone--including you--then
>they're not valid.
>
>So, I no longer need to be defensive about ideas I feel are mature, so
>I can instead be a critic, to test them as rigorously as possible.
>
>
>James Harris

************************

David C. Ullrich