Re: The quaternion group as a product

In article <9303181.1211518435631.JavaMail.jakarta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Adam Burley <ajburley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I don't read the newsgroup through a browser. That's
part of the
problem. Not everyone reads the newsgroup through a
browser, or
through (bleach) MathForum.


I don't quite understand this, but I posted the message to a Maths
forum on the internet called "Math Forum".

I know. You notice I even named it?

The Math Forum is a web interface that allows you to read and post to
a Usenet Newsgroup called "sci.math". Newsgroups predate web browsers.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

I am looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum

and it mentions
"...forums perform a function similar to that of Usenet newsgroups ...that were common from the late 1970s to the 1990s."
"Precursor systems like Usenet have been archived as far back as 1981 by Google Groups"

Sigh.

If you call the tail of a cat a leg, then how many legs does the cat
have?

Answer: Four. Calling the tail a leg does not make it one.

The Math Forum is called a "Forum"; but among its many parts, it has a
portal to usenet. Your messages in the particular section of Drexel's
Math Forum that you are using ARE PART OF USENET, whether you intend
them to be or not. In fact, you have posted to Usenet, through the
MathForum, several times since December 2005; you have posted 59 times
to sci.math, whether you knew you were doing it or not.

Your intentions do not control the nature of the medium you are using.

It's not just a river in Egypt, dear, and it's about time you realize
that you are quite simply wrong and mistaken about the nature of the
messages you have been sending.

It is located at
mathforum.org. If my post has somehow been copied to
other forums, and
copied incorrectly (all as one line) then I
apologise for that.

Math Forum's interface does not provide appropriate
end-of-line
characters to the text it sends (as opposed to other
web interfaces;
even google knows how to send a proper end-of-line
character.


It provides appropriate end-of-line characters to me, as shown by the link I sent you.

Sigh. Are you really this dense, or just contrary?

Math Forum does not in fact provide end-of-line characters. What you
are seeing is a rendering of the message you are sending, local to
Math Forum's display.

Most portals to Usenet (of which, whether you like it or not, Drexel's
Math Forum is one) format their messages in some way. Most include
either soft or hard carriage-return characters for formatting purposes
->in<- the text. Drexel's Math Forum does not. The interface of the Math
Forum handles this (as does the Google interface). But this is not
part of the MESSAGE, it is part of the interface.


[...]

Obviously someone has copied the message onto this
Google
site, and copied it incorrectly.

No, they didn't. YOU posted it to Usenet,
distributed worldwide,
through the Math Forum. Google happens to receive
Usenet messages and
have them available. I'm reading it through the
Newsserver at UC
Berkeley. Others read it from all kinds of other
places.


If "Math Forum" has posted my messages to "Usenet", then again, I am
sorry for this, but it is out of my hands.

Then stop pretending that you didn't post it and that you are not
responsible for them being posted. YOU ARE POSTING THEM to Usenet,
whether you realized that Drexel's Math Forum was intended to allow
you to do so or not.

Perhaps in future just ignore my messages if they
appear on another
forum, as someone is obviously copying them across
to there, and this
is not what I intended.

All your messages are appearing WORLDWIDE. If this
was not your
intention, perhaps you should stop posting and learn
a bit about what
it is you got into instead of wondering how come
everyone is saying
those big words you don't understand.


Please do not patronise me.

Then perhaps you should not try patronizing me, telling me about
checking my browser or learning all about the Maths Forum if I am
"interested in Math".

I have a 2:1 Masters degree in Maths from a major university
(graduated last July) and I really do not appreciate it when you use
phrases like "saying those big words you don't understand" and
calling me "son" like I am still in high school.

Congratulations. Then perhaps you can stop calling me "Doctor" or
"Professor" and stop patronizing me about visiting the Math Forum if I
am "interested in maths".

Point is, you just don't know what you are talking about but you
pretend you do. That's why you are being patronized. Son.


However if you like maths then I would really
recommend that you try
going on Math Forum, it is quite good and they have
a lot of maths
topics on there. I have never really tried Google or
the "newsgroup",
so I can't comment on those.

You ARE in a newsgroup. son. And I've been posting to
sci.math for
over 15 years.



I am trying to be reasonable with you here and give you some tips to
solve our problem.

You are being patronizing from a point of ignorance, is what you are
being. You are being contrary and in denial about the nature of the
medium in which you are posting, of which you clearly know little or
nothing, but pretend you do. You are not being reasonable, you are
being contrary.


And I did apologise several times in my last post, both for
offending you and for the initial problem.

You have "apologized" by saying that you did no such thing and that
the problem is with everyone else. Pretty words, but empty meaning.

I do not understand why you are taking such an aggressive tone with
me,

Perhaps because you insist on pretending you did not do any of the
things you did actually do, trying to blame mysterious "others" or
everyone else for what you did, through ignorance of what you were
doing.

I am not meaning to offend you or make life difficult for you. I must admit that I have not been
posting to the math forum for 15 years, but I have been on here for
more than 5 years (my first post:
http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?forumID=226&threadID=540531&messageID=1639372).

All of which have been posts to Usenet, despite the fact that you did
not realize it.


I do not intend to stop posting, as I enjoy this forum, and I do
not think that many people are experiencing the same problems as
you.

You certainly do not think much, at least about what you are
doing. You claimed you did not want to post to Usenet. If that is
indeed the case, then I am afraid you should stop using "this forum",
since "this forum" is nothing but Usenet, no matter what it calls
itself on your interface.

--
======================================================================
"It's not denial. I'm just very selective about
what I accept as reality."
--- Calvin ("Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson)
======================================================================

Arturo Magidin
magidin-at-member-ams-org

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The quaternion group as a product
    ... forum on the internet called "Math Forum". ... a Usenet Newsgroup called "sci.math". ... "Precursor systems like Usenet have been archived as far back as 1981 by Google Groups" ... still be readable exactly the same on Math Forum, ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: The Law of the Excluded Middle again (long)
    ... Problem is that Math Forum is line wrapping ... Your newsreader should do it for ... Usenet runs on a protocol called Network ... Transfer Protocol (http). ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: The quaternion group as a product
    ... USENET newsgroup. ... You are using Drexel's Math Forum web interface ... at all different from other flavors of conservatism. ... Google's web interface to USENET is broken. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: The Law of the Excluded Middle again (long)
    ... Problem is that Math Forum is line wrapping ... Your newsreader should do it for you. ... Usenet runs on a protocol called Network ... Transfer Protocol (http). ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: The quaternion group as a product
    ... Okay, I was only trying to help, there is no need to get angry with me. ... However if you like maths then I would really recommend that you try going on Math Forum, it is quite good and they have a lot of maths topics on there. ... I have never really tried Google or the "newsgroup", so I can't comment on those. ...
    (sci.math)