Mindless Postings

CHEERS!

I had another name for them - I just couldn't post it.....

Are they mindless in what they are asking (i.e. too lazy to look something up) or just the result of poor English/English as a second language?

I have seen a lot more of both, but a real increase in the latter in the last two weeks.

It is the attitude of this generation that expect to get something from nothing.

It is up to us on this site to set them straight (hopefully without being too snotty or aggressive).

Mindless....some I think are just bored.....but some of the postings that come off it can get pretty dam interesting.

It seems to me that it is a cyclic phenomenon here in CR4 land.

"If you ignore them, they will go away".

dear,

many a times, what we feel mind less may be a problem for others.

young generation is constantly coming out & questions may be repeated, but may be for the next gen.

So, if you feel mind less, may be a lacuna in the education system or experience needed by the questioners. But, this is what for this CR4 is.

HAVE PATIENCE.

Dude - I don't know what the weather is like in Toronto, but down here in Houston it's too friggin hot to think.

Has anyone seen my remote?

We're justing starting summer up here. It finally arrived this past weekend so we're in the midst of a heatwave right now. Must be all of 32C outside. It's almost time for a cold brew.

Grae

Have you tried down the back of the sofa?

Hi Graebeard,

It seems so to me too. I get the distinct impression that many, many people think of forums like this as a magic black box. All you do is ask your answer, and out comes a neat little answer for free! Laziness, indeed! As long as there are forums like this, there will always be an annoying abundance of this type of thing. Got to take the good with the bad.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people who do take the time to, as best they can, put their question forth. There are a lot of people who have no or limited experience on the concept of communicating what they wish to know in a forum like this.

Mike

"...ask your answer..."

People usually ask questions, don't they? Just teasing.

Corrected version:

Hi Graebeard,

It seems so to me too. I get the distinct impression that many, many people think of forums like this as a magic black box. All you do is ask your question, and out comes a neat little answer for free! Laziness, indeed! As long as there are forums like this, there will always be an annoying abundance of this type of thing. Got to take the good with the bad.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people who do take the time to, as best they can, put their question forth. There are a lot of people who have no or limited experience on the concept of communicating what they wish to know in a forum like this.

Mike

I get the distinct impression that many, many people think of forums like this as a magic black box. All you do is ask your question, and out comes a neat little answer for free

It is, most get relinked to Wikipedia or google search engine.

What is amazing is they (and we all know who 'they' are) are able to somehow find CR4 on the internet but cannot seem to bother to try these two very well known search engines. Many times I just put the poster's question (exact word string) into google and out pops the answer in the first or second hit!

It seems amazing to me too. So many 'guests' seem to want quick answers, but won't take the time to read "How to Post". Consequently, they don't get emails when someone replies to their question, because they didn't know that was even available, but only if you register!

Totally 'stupid' to technical people!

They used to say there are no dumb questions. I used to think that the dumb questions asked on this forum are usually from individuals that are just to lazy to scour reference texts to find the answers. I suggest this is because many of the posters have always had the Internet available with its search engines. I truly wonder whether many students posting questions even know how to use a card catalog in a library (that is of course assuming they know how to read). Beloit College's annual letter to teachers reminding them of the things current entering freshmen take for granted (ie: assume) suggests many have no idea how to use a card catalog.

The dumbing down of American is complete, now the world will be the next target. Dont know about you, but I dont want to cross any bridges designed by this crowd.

Aqua Doc I find myself taking exception to your comment "usually from individuals that are just to lazy to scour reference texts to find the answers"

I only found myself thinking of your reply after spending almost a day trying to find an answer to a question I had. In fact yesterday I found one link in a CR4 thread that gave a partial answer only to find this answer conflicted with something I found in a second reference text book. Half a day further on and still no resolution.

I wanted to go back and peruse the same thread again but failed to find it. Evidently my CR4 search string had some tiny flaw in it. The point is all of the search engines that I have ever seen including google and wikipedia are too literal minded and do not seem to use much 'fuzzy logic'

You either draw a blank as in 'no answer found' or else get drowned in such a profusion of data it is over whelming. No wonder people ask the same question again and again. I have now spent a total of a day and a half trying to get an answer to my question. Still no luck and with each reference text that I consult or website listing I peruse the subject gets muddier and muddier. Its a question related to European versus American standards. So just how long do I keep it up before I ask CR4? I even went to far as to send a PM to one poster who claimed to be working in that field on a daily basis. so far no answer.

The CR4 forum is a victim of its own success. As more people hear about it, the greater the number of queries. It stands to reason that seasoned and long term subscribes will find the newbies sounding naive and 'mindless' compared to their own elevated intellectual base. But I'm sure most of us asked similar questions back in our own student days.

Except for what are obviously homework questions, we should give the original poster the benefit of the doubt.

Beloit College's annual letter to teachers current entering freshmen take for granted

Anyway you could share the contents?

If you just ignore the, "mindless and lazy postings" they will go away.

We've had this conversation before.

Cheers!

There are no stupid questions. The customer is always right. Management got their jobs because they knew what they are doing. Politicians have our best interests in mind. Your religion is the correct one. Parents never lie to their children. Teachers are naturally good with kids. The check is in the mail. You will get a raise at after the next review. I read the instruction manual before I started building it. Theory is always right.

I forgot where I was going with this and how to relate it to the actual question. Can someone google it for me?

Straight to the point ... I registered here about six weeks ago and have been answering intelligent questions since then. Interestingly enough, I've answered ones that were dumb-seeming if one didn't try to get to the real meaning ... this involved getting into the mind of someone who doesn't speak good English and is looking for general guidance. After a question or two for context, what the asker was facing as a situation became clear and others and I helped him out.

That being said ... yes, there have been dumb questions; but what's annoyed me most have been dumb answers (especially if they're incomplete).

As concerns dumbness becoming more pronounced here ... sorry, I'm a newbie so I have no perspective. :-S But casual glancers may sometimes get the impressions that bozo-ism exists here.

Courage!

DZ

We're All Bozos on This Bus! - actually, Don't Step on That Dwarf, Hand me The Pliers!

These are the titles of Firesign Theater Comedy Satire albums. God I need a laugh.

Anyway: It is well known that August is typically a "Slow News Month".

Apparently everybody top to bottom goes on vacation in the EU in August, or otherwise pretends to do so, and then starts something like WWI.

Now I feel really terrible because I was reminded of terrible things that made me laugh.

Since it is a slow news month, and I can't bear to not explain the sorts of things that make me laugh, in the radio show by Firesign Theater, what really happens is these guys get up in the morning and find a dead rat, some spoiled milk, and a bunch of mescaline in the refrigerator.

They take the mescaline and watch tv and order out for pizza.

Nothing really happens far as I remember, but it sure is funny.

Been a long time since I listened to Firesign Theater..._{"Rocky Rococco at your cervix"} is about all I remember.

If your point is "what does it all matter in the end?", then the answer is "not much, really."

Relationships, not our accumulation of knowledge, is what we leave this world with.

We leave this world with nothing, Mike. Relationships are for the ones left behind.

No, it's not just you. Just a couple of days ago I posted a mocking reply complete with links to 2 over-unity sites to someone who wanted to know a cheap way to generate energy for his factory without providing details of what he needed. Believe it or not, he was actually indignant that I was mocking him, when in fact it was all his own fault for expecting everyone to read his mind. Only after reading my reply did he post details of his needs, after which we were able to provide him useful information.

Lazy, ignorant, or just plain stupid? What does anyone else think? For me, it's a clearcut case of option 3, since anyone with a shred of a brain would know that when you ask stupid questions, you can expect to and will receive stupid answers. Especially when a notorious prankster like myself should read it.

Believe I am saying it, I cannot, but side with you in this, I do. So incredibly stupid, many people who post questions on this site are! Running out of patience, I am!

"over-unity sites"

Operated by midi-chlorians this universe think they do, when by actual physical laws constrained we are.

For what it's worth, I quoted him a very valuable lesson you taught me once, namely: "When in doubt you are, state clearly your problem you must, or helpful answer you may not receive". He seems to have gotten it after that .

Lolll ... SAY it, Brother Vader. I'm notorious for derision. Nice to know that there is another who is strong in The Farce.

DZ

CR4 is an active and thriving community. Would I post on Jim Bob's forum that gets a hundred hits a year or here, a place that gets 100s or more a day? Go CR4!

The activeness of the community causes the lazies to come out from the dark. But sometimes isn't it nice to start a 'social' conversation off an easily research-able question?

After all, if we were not social, then why would we tweet our faces into space? Maybe the general internet attitude is to be socially ignorant?

My point of view is, reason why i joined CR4 is exchanging technical and professional ideas. Unexpectedly, we read stupid questions and of course replied with stupid answers. To me i admit to myself that i'm not like a walking encylopedia that knows every word meaning, and then everyone has blessed with a different gift, one thing i knew wherein somebody don't know, and i don't know what somebody knows. We just need patients .... reason why they asked question might be they need everyone ideas to clear his/her mind from doubt...or might be they want to challenge everyone. Imparting of ideas give better results... No man is an island

I totally agree. I've been a member since 2006 and have been actively reading threads of interest, but haven't really contributed a lot over the past couple years. I've seen a huge change in the stupidity of random posters. Not only do they include bad grammar (I mean that's forgivable if they don't know English well), but they are jsut horrbletypistss which shows that they probably didn't even try re-reading what they just typed. I think I should start replying to all the bad posts and encourage them to try a little harder. They'd get much better responses and annoy fewer people.

Someone made a good point... it seems like some of these people would have had to google for this forum, when they probably could have searched for their answer in less time

After all, it's better to be given the answer than to just find it yourself

Maybe they figure that an Engineering site would have more accurate information. After all just because its on the net doesn't mean its the truth.

Now, if we can get this thing refined, to be able to post here without even logging on, and be able to response, while we are taking out the garage...............

NOT GARAGE I MEANT GARBAGE ....another mindless posting....how appropriate

...............but the outcome is a knowledge base of gigantic proportions. I mean, if you ever want to learn all there is to know about "earthing", CR4 is the place to go.

WOW. As the original poster of this thread, I'm impressed by the sheer volume of responses.

What a great crowd!

It seems there's a lot of us in netland with "important engineering" time on our hands

Now, where's Del ?

Grae

Sometimes I feel that students (usually from the same area) give the nubies this site to ask their questions on. They are always the same questions, in the same order, over and over again. I'm all for pointing students in the right direction. But as others have stated, " You won't learn a thing if you don't read and study the manuals!". Laziness is no excuse! I would never hire someone who expects others to do their work.

A GA for this suggestion. You get the point across without being a jerk.

Reminds me of the story about the old guys at the nursing home who told the same jokes over and over, so many times that they just gave them numbers. One old boy said "thirteen" and the rest of them rolled on the floor laughing. A newbie thought he would try it and said "seven"! No one laughed. When he asked why he didn't get any laughs the reply was "some people just can't tell a joke".

12. TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). We will not "rubber stamp" your over unity device. Sell it somewhere else please.

You've got my vote for Pope of CR 4... By the way, when did they make you an admin? I missed that.

More people without employment start to stumble on us and dont have anything to contribute. Sad.

Don't know if there are the resources here, but CR4 might take a page out of National Instrument's book. When you ask for support at their site you type in your question. Links to articles from the website and searches from their Forums come up base on keywords from the question, allowing a user to look at these before s/he actually makes a new support request. This is sort of what Ronseto is pointing at. Of course, if the "laziness" explanation is correct, the questioner may never even look at the links to see if they can find the answer. But at least they would get the hint to look a little on their own before posting for what is likely redundant information, available from many sources, aside from CR4.

Another GA for Ron

13. DON'T SHOUT. Please use lower case.

Now, where do we post list?

Mindless? Lazy? Au contraire!!!...there clearly has been an increase in the number of participants who have discovered the golden rule of success and promotion:

"If you could just do my job for me, that'd be great..."

If they get an answer, 1000% return for no investment! Brilliant! I only wish I had the gumption to try the tactic someday.

It's been said, but I have to put my two bits in...

Sometimes people don't know enough about their problem to find a good answer through a search engine.

Sometimes they don't know enough english to effectively communicate their issue.

Sometimes they have found conflicting information in their searches and are looking for knowledgeable people as they are fed up with ignorant machines that can't explain why the information is conflicting.

Sometimes they don't understand boolean logic and screw up their searches, sometimes the search engines don't undestand boolean logic and screw up their searches.

Sometimes they do an appropriate search and the search engine gives good answers... somewhere on pages 74, 83 and 127 out of 200 pages of links.

And yes, sometimes they are just lazy and want someone else to do the work for them.

If you are annoyed by the question you can choose to ignore it or you can choose to answer it. Either way you aren't out anything more then some time. And who knows, maybe you'll help someone make their world better.

Or we can also deliberately give wrong answers to people who expect us to do their homework for them so that they'll receive a painful lesson not to cheat in school .

you don't want to do that......

The problem with giving wrong advice is that there are a lot of people who read these threads to pick up knowledge on subjects they are not familiar with. Better to ignore the homework crowd if we can't feel good about answering them correctly.

I have been a member of this forum for only a short period of time and I try to scour the questions on a daily basis. The dumb or lazy questions? I pass them by. The homework questions? Ditto. The honest, intelligent, and informative questions? I either follow them with great interest or sometimes I'll add my own two-cents when I find them to be down my alley.

So, we can talk about this until we are blue-in-the-face but it is not going to change anything. The same questions will continue to appear and we will just all have to deal with them in our own way. Besides, if it were all business here it would probably get real boring in a hurry. Don't you agree?

Methinks the forum wreaks of self righteousness. If those who need guidance are spurned and turned away by those who purportedly carry the torch of "knowledge", then how shall the torch be passed? Whose responsibility is it to insure that the bridges are sturdy? Certainly not the up-and-comers. True leadership, rather than criticism, which seems to me to be the Achilles heel of engineers, is what is needed, as well as desired: that coupled with proper spelling and grammar.

If it makes everyone feel better, I will emerge from anonymity and join the fray. Good day to all, and remember to guard against the fallacy of ad hominem.

SAY it, Brother Zeno.

DZ

P.S. And BTW, you DO know that Z's Paradox has been solved by integral calculus, right? I mean, scientists have moved on to dark energy and dark matter .. this chasing turtles thing is SO passé.

Lolll ... I jest, of course. Great name!

DZ,

I do realize that the paradox has been debunked. I was partial to the user name, speed of "lite", but I found myself overtaken by it.....lol

Zeno

Excellent observations, ronseto - and several others as well (I haven't read this "thread" completely - in a hurry to get to the wife's weekend "honeydoes" - but I will later.

It happens that for the last six years I've been doing sociological research into just this topic. I've frequented and taken part in every website forum from "Worthless Knowledge" to "AlterNet," from extreme conservative to exteme liberal. It has been a fascinating odyssey, with much learned. Among things I believe I've discovered it a marked penchant of Internet forum participants to engaged liberally in discussing matters about which they know almost nothing. No subject areas are more conspicuous in that regard than those having to do with science and technology or math. Almost - I personally have encountered no exception - invariably, one or two esoteric and pointed questions exposes the charlatan, with the result being either total silence or a change in site "handle" or other sobriquest or a torrent of invective of titanic proportions

I should point out that I am without exception civil and polite, resorting religiously only to demonstrable fact and argument, yet I've been called every vile thing even a writer could imagine, a veritable dictionary of vile things.

I believe this may be do a society and nation now having become almost entirely detached from reality, living in a hothouse plant world where reality that is only virtual and created by the electronic media. A new form of mythology has been created, one wherein people believe to be factual things that are only so - and provable - in language and rhetoric. "The medium is the message," and it is now science and fact, too. The "American" (as we U.S. citizens call ourselves as though we were the only nation in the Americas) who knows even a few terms of the jargon of any field somehow believes he is now an expert, in result.

I wonder if this fits the experience of others here, and I'd like to here from you.

Thanks!

I've never been called "a veritable dictionary of vile things."

What's your secret?

What's your secret?

patience my little apprentice.............

Possibly the fact that I state opinions about things political or religious, but the further fact that I insist upon resort to logic, mathematics, and the laws of physics - that while avoiding personal attack of any kind, even avoiding characterization and adjectives - just seems to piss people off.

Most salient in it all has been the fact (again) that while I have carefully avoided any kind of ungentlemanly manner whatever, and have continually sought to get participants to moderate the tone and tenor of their manner and writing, I have been thrown off five sites thus far; and, moreover, while I've actually sought an explanation from forum managers, I am met with either more nastiness (just one instance, though) or stoney silence. Even the website forum of the local Victoria Advocate newspaper has followed the pattern. It seems to me that the various forums actually encourage emotional and mindless argument and diatribe, the better to enlarge participation.

My family and friends nickname since the time the show StarTrek first "aired" has been "Spock." Maybe that has something to do with it, too.

My family and friends nickname since the time the show Star Trek first "aired" has been "Spock." Maybe that has something to do with it, too.

Damm it Jim, I'm just a old fashion country doctor ......How can you expect me to help out our pointed eared green blooded friend.

At times try humor...

I have been thrown off five sites thus far; and, moreover, while I've actually sought an explanation from forum managers, it has nothing to do with you? I am met with either more nastiness (just one instance, though) or stoney silence.

nothing to do with you or your etiquette or attitude, do you take criticism well or only logic as only a Vulcan would only know , are all other species are inferior?

anyways on the serious side.......what are you looking for from all these sites you've been going through? including this one?

phoenix911

"My family and friends nickname since the time the show Star Trek first "aired" has been "Spock." Maybe that has something to do with it, too."

I don't see how his friends and family could possibly have drawn this conclusion given that Nimoy's character was a highly private individual who spoke little of himself and his family.

_{(Psst: Ask him if he likes Plomeek Soup.)}

please....i am an actor....what,..you don't believe me.........here I'll show you.....pull my finger.

Well, first - I'm building a vertical axis turbine, and asked on another "thread" here for ideas concerning braking it in the high winds we have in my area of the country. I happened to see this "thread," too, and being involved in sociological research - just private and part of my penchant for discover and learning (the one that got me the nickname) - I then sought ideas about THAT subject, too.

Criticism is most welcome, and what I hope for - that in order to examine the reasoning process, rhetoric, et cetera. Personal attack is not criticism, inasmuch as it proves utterly nothing concerning the subject matter. Even if one were to prove me a nitwit, or any of the scurrilous things the persons in question say, that proof wouldn't prove me wrong about the subject. The logical fallacy is that of Irrelevant Conclusion, among others.

"People always have the government they deserve," Montaigne said, and I'm learning from the public discourse to assess what the chances are for our nation's future. That's what I'm looking for.

Good, this is a good place,

But being a forum, one does socialize.....banter and joke that started from nothing as doing with europium.........next week may be different where one takes different stance.

Some things thats interesting,

"People always have the government they deserve," Montaigne said, and I'm learning from the public discourse to assess what the chances are for our nation's future.

Your correct on this.

I do not know if your from the states, but you mentioned you got kicked off from the other sites, and the sites are not governments, but did someone (or most) have a different opinion than you that you disagree with that you got the boot.

One thing about sociological research, when you become involved and one becomes a part of the social network......it no longer research.....is it?

Wow - what good luck that I happened by this site! Light instead of mere heat, that is.

I am indeed from the U.S. - grew up (assuming I can take credit for that much) in Iowa.

Believe me when I say that "banter and joke" are as rare as teeth in a hen on the typical political forum websites. These people are out for the proverbial blood. I've never seen anything like it, anywhere - even when during ten years of "cruising" - hiking, bicycling, and motorcycling - around the country I did impromptu private surveys everywhere, I encountered nothing like this. Even when I played "devil's advocate" by appearing to espouse extremist viewpoints right and left, no one "cut loose" on me like this (of course, I do suspect that face-to-face confrontation is a factor - this is the land of the digitus impudicus, middle finger salute from a passing car, you know).

Actually, and in order to assure to the degree possible objectivity, I frequented forums both left and right leaning. I agreed with one side or the other using different site "handles" or identities, and I did the same with disagreement. I tried Socratic method, just asking questions, and I challenged arguers for proof (if I was obnoxious in any way, that was the extent of it). As I said, I was in all instances unfailingly polite, must have used the expression "with all due respect" a thousand times.

Just once did I ever reply in kind, that by way of illustrating the point that abusive language tends to elicit abusive response. Cruel-intended reference to the sexual parts is, as I may also have said, characteristic of the liberal left side of political discussion, and when I responded to a woman's sneering and scurrilous suggestion that I must have been neutered, I replied with an allusion to her forum site name ("Eyes Wide Open" was queried as to how she would react were she addessed as "Thighs Wide Open"). In this instance playing a politically neutral role and questioning both extremes, I was immediately barred from posting again when I opposed the liberal one. The site, Truthout, was and is filled with the nastiest possible language and personal attack, but mine alone (I checked on that, too) was unacceptable.

I'm not sure what your reference is with your last sentence, but I have perhaps the most rigid set of self-governing rules where objectivity is concerned. More, having "dropped out" of U.S. society and its governmental or political matters decades ago, I don't really have an interest in seeing one side or the other of issues I investigate. Seventy-three years old, I'm merely interested in learning the truth - especially where what I have been observing during my lifetime concerning the nation. As a senior citizen, I take my responsibility to young people very seriously; more, I want to assess what I should advise my grandkids to do with the future. Any objective look around one will confirm what I say when I say we're very, very sick, a beached whale dying of its own excesses and ignorance. Sadly aware that I can't do anything about that, I know nevertheless that I can perhaps save the kids from the nation in its death throes when the latter come.

Even if my investigations result in bias - obviously, they're intended to do just that - I don't know how that would question whether it's research I'm doing.

Thanks, however, for the astute observations. They're much appreciated.

"My family and friends nickname since the time the show Star Trek first 'aired' has been 'Spock.'"

This is all very confusing.

Are your family and friends individually nicknamed 'Spock,' or is the nickname used more in a singular collective sense, as in, "Hello, I'd like you to meet my friends and family, Spock. Spock, this is my new friend, Phoenix." <chorus of hellos>

Or is it you your family and friends have nicknamed 'Spock?' If so, what did your family and friends call you prior to Star Trek's debut?

phoenix that too confusing, so phoenix we just call you spock.

A take-off from a skit from Monty Python with the name Bruce

"They dead, Jim."

Ha! Right you are, and I'm "hoist on my own petard" (you see, I continually complain about others who use the same solecistic composition and diction); and I hope I'm brighter than my execrable typing would suggest. I some how dropped "for me" after "nickname."

My friends and family (ex-wife, particularly) call me Spock.

And before Star Trek, my high school graduating class prophesy had it that it would be I who found the Abominable Snowman. I checked, you see, newspaper accounts of everything from Sasquatch and Skunk Ape sightings to UFO sightings to appearances of the Blessed Virgin. I was known in some quarters then as "Sherlock." The "Walks-in-Storms," incidentally, is the name given me by my Native American Indian sponsors at induction into their council, and due my penchant then (high school and for years thereafter) for snow-shoeing in Iowa blizzards.

I can't wait to show this to my high school English teacher wife - she's gonna have a laughing fit.

Thanks for providing me a good laugh at myself.

P.S. Now I note that I omitted the apostrophe to indicate the possessive - "friends'."

Maybe we should call me "Klutz." Or "Ham-fist?"

If you get thrown off CR4, you may have some really deep seated problems.

If I was a Conductor, I'd compare it to the Violin Section of the orchestra.

Let us think of this and ask do we really want to complain that people come here to CR4 before they go to another site?

I have a website of my own, and I'll tell you flat out it is not as good yet, as CR4 or Globalspec.

I made a suggestion about the Homepage, suggesting that Commercial Space be in the Sections column.

Possibly if CR4 and Globalspec administrators decide we ought to refer a certain segment of visitors to other sites from the homepage it ought to be on the Homepage in the Sections under some sort of heading, like Go Away, go here, get referred to us from here...

Right now the report says there are 170 people on the forum.

I'll bet one of them will ask a really wonderful "Mindless Question" that will entertain us for days. - at least I hope so...

Has anyone seen my mini-blackhole? I lent it to Hawking and it seems to have been misplaced...Without it, I fear that the gravity of my contributions will be somewhat diminished.

Z