Re: Suggesting a Poll

On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:31:56 -0500, "Jesse F. Hughes"
<jesse@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Look, the right way to look at it is this: if one tends to post in
crank threads, then Bill believes that he has a reason not to read
that person's posts.

He can do what he likes with his own newsreader. If he wants he
can program it to filter out all posters with a Q in their name,
I don't care.

Why get upset about that conclusion?

I just don't like being named and shamed in public, especially
when my motive for (apparently) being drawn into so many crank-
related threads is not at all that I want to "bash" anybody.

As Bill's own post states, this started because he felt he was
being persecuted by Tonico (I have no idea what that was about),
and he found this was a good way of hitting back - effective
especially because it has an appearance of objectivity. While
it does have some objectivity and genuine interest, when used
as a weapon like this it also causes some collateral damage.

As it turns out, some of us are
drawn to sci.math for the crank threads and some of us abhor them.

I find them largely unpleasant and pointless, I largely (and
increasingly) avoid them, but I recognise that they sometimes
address real issues, even if "only" psychological ones. I do
not totally abhor them, I do not wish to deny their existence,
and I do not see any good reason to remain totally aloof from
them, unless (as was indeed true in my case) participation in
them drains scarce energy which could have been used for doing
mathematics. (Whether it still does I don't know, because I
haven't participated in any recently - except for this one,
which has indeed given me a night of poor sleep and, so far,
a rotten day with no work done whatsoever.)

The only value of this exercise, for me, is that it might help
(and force!) me to understand better exactly why I have tended
to get drawn (often with conscious reluctance) into such threads.

At the moment I only know that it has something to do both with
long-standing philosophical doubts about foundations, and with
long-standing and severe emotional (and intellectual) problems.

That philosophical doubts and psychological problems can (and
do) interfere with one's capacity to work productively at
mathematics is not in question. But being lumped by a crude
statistical index into the same category as both "cranks" and
"crank-bashers" is a very regressive way of identifying the
problem, and moreover having it done in the glare of publicity
like this is positively harmful.

Those in the latter group have reason to avoid the posts of those in
the former group, since such posts are more likely to be in crank
threads.

That just seems to be another way of reinforcing an unproductive
split into two mutually hostile mindsets.

I imagine that Bill avoids my posts, but I'm so far beneath his radar
that I didn't even make the list. The shame!

Swop? :-)

--
Angus Rodgers
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Suggesting a Poll
    ... then Bill believes that he has a reason not to read ... that person's posts. ... drawn to sci.math for the crank threads and some of us abhor them. ... "Understanding Godel isn't about following his formal proof. ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Suggesting a Poll
    ... crank threads, then Bill believes that he has a reason not to read ... unusually high percentage of his time bashing cranks, ... at least 10% of his posts if not more. ... So I decided to examine the percentage of crank-bashing ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: .9 repeating
    ... There are more posts in crank threads than all ... It's only dishonest if you attribute material that is entirely your ... If they would adopt your theory as a reaonable model of what they've ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Suggesting a Poll
    ... that person's posts. ... drawn to sci.math for the crank threads and some of us abhor them. ... I imagine that Bill avoids my posts, but I'm so far beneath his radar ... "Am I am misanthrope? ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: How to sum the last 5 non-blank cells in a row?
    ... > ...but for some reason I'm drawn to these kind of posts!!! ... Same here, Biff! ...
    (microsoft.public.excel.worksheet.functions)