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Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

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Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#21

Post by frevd »

notyourwork wrote: post #17
SamReidHughes wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. In your comment history, other posts have it worse, and your writing style and mannerisms make…

English is nothing more than another vehicle humans use to communicate. For you to claim using proper grammar and well formed sentences of the english language is just a cop out to the point the OP was trying to make. Let me paraphrase in a grammar that is perhaps closer to on par with the level you seek: "I have spent a long time on hacker news. In fact I used to communicate with others on a regular basis but that c…

you're right, I appreciate the honest words. i'm just having difficulties in being serious - this is a personal trait and part of my very way to learn since it enables me to stay distant and see more of the bigger picture, thus not easily changed. I'll try to be more serious however. also, since my english is rather poor, I apologize for my bad grammar and unstructured sentences.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#22

Post by charleso »

Active reader here, but I avoid commenting.

Whenever I do, I seem to find myself caring too much about the responses. This leads me to returning again and again to a thread I've already learned from and replying to responses in an attempt to clarify my position. Before I know it, a half-hour has passed to no benefit.

Since arrows tend to be clicked to reflect a worldview which conforms to a reader's own and not to promote posts of substance, I find the result is more poking a hive-mind than learning through discussion. That agitates me far more than it should and, for myself, it's best by far to simply lurk.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#23

Post by Mz »

frevd wrote: post #19
Mz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a former homemaker and the only coding I know is a little (x)html and css, so I am very much a demographic outlier for this forum. Plus, my views tend to not quite fit in anywhere I go. Prompt feedback, like votes and comments, can be a mechanism for honing your communication skills. Presentation can go a long way towards making it palatable to express an opposing point of view. You probably won't get a lot of up…

fortunately this is not a strict coders' forum as far as i'm concerned - i appreciate all kinds of people with varying experience from diverse sectors, after all this is what information exchange is about, and more variance adds to a broader and more objective view, lots of fun and more information (and entropy for that matter). in fact i don't even believe there is a specific topic other than things that are obvious…

Of course it is not a strict coders forum. Even simply being female makes me very much a minority here and I have seen a number of posts from women who cite that as an obstacle to effective participation.

I like getting a diversity of views and feedback/information. It is one of the reasons I work hard on coming across politely and respectfully when speaking with people who have strongly different views from mine: It is the only way I have found for such interactions to be really good opportunities for growth instead of pissing contests. Pissing contests rarely have any productive value.

As for speaking English as a second language: Stating up front "please forgive my English" seems to work pretty well to smooth things over for some members here. Practicing your English will improve it, possibly quite a lot in a short time. (I have seen that with foreign friends who chose to speak with me in spite of sometimes having very poor English and me not knowing their language at all.)

And I apologize if you don't actually want solutions. Many people don't. I am often annoying in that way.

Peace.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#25

Post by frevd »

notyourwork wrote: post #17
SamReidHughes wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. In your comment history, other posts have it worse, and your writing style and mannerisms make…

English is nothing more than another vehicle humans use to communicate. For you to claim using proper grammar and well formed sentences of the english language is just a cop out to the point the OP was trying to make. Let me paraphrase in a grammar that is perhaps closer to on par with the level you seek: "I have spent a long time on hacker news. In fact I used to communicate with others on a regular basis but that c…

It seems all my comments appear as a blob, despite me adding line breaks. I'm not doing that on purpose, do I have to use a different system or editor in order to get more visual structure into it?

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#26

Post by [deleted] »

frevd wrote: post #25
notyourwork wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English is nothing more than another vehicle humans use to communicate. For you to claim using proper grammar and well formed sentences of the english language is just a cop out to the point the OP was trying to make. Let me paraphrase in a grammar that is perhaps closer to on par with the level you seek: "I have spent a long time on hacker news. In fact I used to communicate with others on a regular basis but that c…

It seems all my comments appear as a blob, despite me adding line breaks. I'm not doing that on purpose, do I have to use a different system or editor in order to get more visual structure into it?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#27

Post by EwanG »

citricsquid wrote: post #5

I comment, but add no value, does that count? We're all leeches! :p

Guess the questions is, what determines if you've "added value". Certainly there is value in adding to information (said article talks about Y, but you might also want to consider Z depending on your application), but there is also value in adding entertainment (at least the RIAA and MPAA think so), and even a well executed troll or Meme addition can be of some value to some people.

So I wouldn't presume that you are not adding value unless you just enjoy putting yourself down (in which case you are still adding value to some folks I am sure). :-)

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#28

Post by krmmalik »

frevd wrote: post #21
notyourwork wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English is nothing more than another vehicle humans use to communicate. For you to claim using proper grammar and well formed sentences of the english language is just a cop out to the point the OP was trying to make. Let me paraphrase in a grammar that is perhaps closer to on par with the level you seek: "I have spent a long time on hacker news. In fact I used to communicate with others on a regular basis but that c…

you're right, I appreciate the honest words. i'm just having difficulties in being serious - this is a personal trait and part of my very way to learn since it enables me to stay distant and see more of the bigger picture, thus not easily changed. I'll try to be more serious however. also, since my english is rather poor, I apologize for my bad grammar and unstructured sentences.

Personally, even though i'm quite particular about punctuation, grammar and general writing etiquette i find your style to be more personable and therefore a hint of fresh air.

After all, provided you can convey your thought and emotion to me successfully, that's all that matters right?

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#29

Post by trobertson »

frevd wrote: post #25
notyourwork wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English is nothing more than another vehicle humans use to communicate. For you to claim using proper grammar and well formed sentences of the english language is just a cop out to the point the OP was trying to make. Let me paraphrase in a grammar that is perhaps closer to on par with the level you seek: "I have spent a long time on hacker news. In fact I used to communicate with others on a regular basis but that c…

It seems all my comments appear as a blob, despite me adding line breaks. I'm not doing that on purpose, do I have to use a different system or editor in order to get more visual structure into it?

Hit enter twice.

Like so.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#30

Post by EwanG »

notyourwork wrote: post #20
theprodigy wrote: post #7

I think there is a lot of people who just lurk around and read everything, that is ok, but if you participate in discussion I think you will definitely learn a lot more. Google cone of learning.

"Google cone of learning." I am not familiar with this phrase. Can someone explain?

On the off chance you're serious (and I know folks sometimes have a hard time differentiating between very subtle sarcasm and true newbiehood):

You are being directed to go to Google (or other search engine of choice) and enter the phrase "Cone of Learning".

You should get a result similar to the following: http://www.google.com/search?q=cone+of+learning&ie=utf-8...

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