chemrox - 28-2-2008 at 20:45
Here I am actually advocating rules or at least some guidlines. Why so out of character? There has been a flurry of completely inane posts and a
bunch of inconsiderate ones. There's the "pixie" guy that started yammering about converting toothpaste to CaOH and another guy that wants to extract
gold but can't use the search engine. How much must we suffer? We've all been new here and learned the norms from others but some of these are
really too much. I think these should be deleted on sight by the mods and the author so notified with a warning.
kmno4 - 29-2-2008 at 00:25
| Quote: |
How much must we suffer? |
As long as you will write such posts.
Suffering has a future.
MagicJigPipe - 29-2-2008 at 01:02
I agree that the toothpaste thing was wierd, trivial and uninteresting but I fear you are falling into the "trap" that is having a knee jerk reaction.
Yes, it's annoying that some people post about things that aren't interesting but to immediately call for all of these posts to be deleted because
the posts are aggravating you is a bit rash.
Calm down. Collect your thoughts. Now, hasty deletion of a post that isn't obviously in violation is wrong and only leads to dissention by the
members. Yeah, I know this is a "dictatorship" and that kind of stuff doesn't matter but, why have an upleasant atmosphere? Balance and control
without abusing power and censoring is key to ... uh... goodness.
Okay, what the fuck am I saying? I'm obviously in need of rest. It is 3am. Goodnight.
YT2095 - 29-2-2008 at 01:06
well, I apologize if I played any role of upsetting you in this: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=10031 thread.
my Intentions were good.
MagicJigPipe - 29-2-2008 at 02:17
Why apologize if you didn't do anything wrong? I see no reason why anyone should be upset by your posts. Oh yes, sleep time.
Sauron - 29-2-2008 at 04:58
You know what they say about the flagstones along the road to Hell, don't you?
YT2095 - 29-2-2008 at 11:14
Indeed!
MagicJigPipe - 29-2-2008 at 13:01
Well, I try to be generally nice and respectful to others (of course I am guilty of the opposite sometimes when I get angry) but the only person I'll
apologize to witout doing something "wrong" would be my girlfriend. No matter what, I can't seem to win an argument with her. Hmmmm... I wonder if
that's universal.
chemoleo - 29-2-2008 at 16:06
The threads in question were closed before you even posted this.
Anyway, please report such threads in the future (blue button top right), it doesn't always happen that all threads are checked by at least
one mod!
chemrox - 29-2-2008 at 18:48
OK- excpet for the personal attack the feedback was on point and noted. I had just been talking with another member about encouraging deeper posts
and not worrying to much about the occaisional drug-syn querie and these came flying out of nowhere. I'm properly admonished and reminded of the need
for an open format.
woelen - 1-3-2008 at 04:12
I understand the feeling of chemrox, but there also is another side of this. Didn't we all start with 'uninteresting' things? I remember the times,
when I mixed HCl with cement and tried to light the bubbles of gas 
, not knowing
what I was doing. At those times there was no Internet (its 30 years ago) and so I did not 'enjoy' others with my first steps in home chemistry.
Nowadays things are different and people find forums like this and they post that kind of stuff.
What counts for me is the attitude of young people, who make their first steps in home chemistry. If they are willing to learn and accept feedback
from other more knowledgeable members, then it is fine to me, and I then certainly am willing to help those people getting more insight in the
material. The worst thing one can do to such people is just pulling their posts and flaming them. Starting interest in the subject then will be killed
before it even had the time to really develop. One can easily tell the difference to such young starters and the obvious k3wl-type of persons, who
only want 'cool' things without real interest in science.
LSD25 - 3-3-2008 at 06:32
The other problem is, where are you going to send the k3wl's who ask dumb questions?
Think about it for a moment...
If this site gets to the point where it actively discourages the chemically niave and sends them elsewhere, then who is responsible for where they end
up?
There are other sites out there with the potential to turn the inept amateur into an equally inept criminal, who will have many years to work out
their fuck-ups (cos inept crims get caught). Possibly the scariest thing I have read in a long time was the KNO3 indictment, where a number of the
incidents (euphemism for people getting caught for having tried to use KNO3's products to cook drugs) cited in the indictment detailed that
such-and-such was caught with a recipe from TOTSE for fucks sake.
I wonder how many have been sent off from here with a sound-spanking for asking cookery related chemistry, and gone to somewhere where such questions
are answered?
While I have no problem with such questions being answered in the appropriate forums, there is a reason they ain't so easy to find... It would
probably be best if some effort were made before flaming those suffering from no more than teenage rebellion to the extent that they go looking for
them. If such people make their choices of their own will and with a clear mind, that is different, they know the risks and have accepted the
consequences. If they are just dumb wannabees, it would probably be best if they had the limits of their knowledge pointed out to em clearly before
they get the opportunity to have it proved against them in court.
Nicodem - 3-3-2008 at 07:43
OK, there is some truth in what you say, but you are exaggerating big time. We have a "Beginnings" section where even such annoying things like
homework posts get tolerated (in most cases).
But think about what would happen if at least a minimum posting quality limit isn't required anymore and just about anything goes. Do you really think
that this forum would still be of any use after it would rapidly go down to a totse-like level? Then you would have to think about a place where to
send members asking serious scientific questions. You can not have it both ways.
At the moment we allow all kind of kewls as long as they do not behave kewlish – it's a compromise between the two extremes. However, by putting
forward such limitations, gives the kewls a chance to realize they can still enjoy science without behaving like retards and wannabe criminals.
The only serious limitation for the beginners and young enthusiasts is the criteria of using scientific discourse, which is an unknown language to
most that have not been in a university (and even many of them who have are illiterate in this respect). Frankly, I don't know what to do about it.
Certainly only very few members have the time and motivation to do pedagogic work here, while for the most of us it is obviously just another
annoyance to read about ungrounded speculations, spoonfeeding questions, wishful thinking, posting without searching, literature avoidance,
referenceless citations and so on ad nauseam. When I'll be retired I will gladly take some time for educating the younger generation, but somehow I
don't think we have enough retired scientists here for online schooling. Find an acceptable solution for this dilemma, and I'll be grateful.
LSD25 - 3-3-2008 at 12:57
Oh no, I personally appreciate the current system - I have noticed there is a concerted effort to at least explain where the poster went wrong and I
believe this to be a good thing and a step in the right direction...
Shit, I know better than a lot of people that a lesson don't need to be enjoyable in order to be learned. No, I was raising an argument against the
automatic removal-on-sight approach advocated upthread - some restraint and tolerance is still needed - finding the balance is a job for you and your
contempories...
For some reason I still enjoy this site, despite its almost comical mood swings, I'd seriously be upset if it degraded to a totse type level. In fact
I find myself becoming rather intolerant toward some of the less-well thought out posts, but that is the way it is.
No, I believe that for the most part the balance is about right - I may not like everything, then again, I ain't the easiest person to get along with
anyway
Arthur Dent - 15-11-2011 at 05:07
Wow... seems this Kayla character has been quite active overnight!!! What happened?
Was this an attack? Or just a profoundly disturbed individual who posted everywhere?
Robert
froot - 15-11-2011 at 22:16
Bot registration posting spam.