Re: Tommy, don't be so cranky ;-)

neilist a écrit :
On Aug 15, 11:58 am, Denis Feldmann <denis.feldmann.sanss...@club-
internet.fr> wrote:

<snip>

In fact, it is : anyone with some patience can check the identity of
tommy1789, starting from the Sloane site... Many participants here dont
hide their true identities either.

Well, I personally wouldn't spend (waste?) time trying to verify
someone's boasts.

If they said they had a Ph.D. and was "pulling rank" on a mathematical
point based on their education, then maybe I would.


<snip>

Ahem, you are starting to sound like that crank James Harris.
Starting only? I thought he was copying him

I was trying to be tactful :-)


<snip>

And I would add 5. Dont post any half-baked idea you get as a
"conjecture" or as "I wonder why mathematicians are not interested
by..." before having done a bit of serious research (in the Google
sense, in the second case)

True, true ...

But Denis, how do you and other advanced mathematicians feel when a
newbie or a student posts something that is sooooooo elementary and
beneath you?


It all depends on *how* he posts it. Almost my first experience here was trying to explain (to whom? I dont recall now, but he was one of the best logicians present) that sentences like "If GC is undecidable, then it is true") had no meaning, because of the existence of models where then GC would be false. I was (reasonably politely, but tersely) invited to read a book or two before lecturing my betters again. So I perfectly well know that "advanced mathematician" is quite relative. But otoh, I spend a lot of time (mostly on fr.sci.maths, but here too) helping (or trying to help) students of good will. When someone posts things like "I have made a great discovery : 1+2+...n=n(n+1)/2", I will congratulate him, and direct him towards, say, "Concrete mathematics" instead of telling his it has been known for 2500 years. On the other hand, any one who tells me, not only that n^2+n+41 is always prime, but that he has a perfect proof of it, and where can he publishes it, may indeed be greeted with sarcasm...



Some would take the student or newbie to task immediately.

On the other hand, others are more patient, like a recent post by
Magidan responding to a student (?) regarding a probability question.

It's hard to keep the trolls out without scaring away the truly
inquisitive, right?



Not really. Also, any serious Usenet newbie could have a look at the forum for a week or two before posting...
.

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