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Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

dangerousminds.net

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Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#71

Post by [deleted] »

xd wrote: post #34
raganwald wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The grammar issues presented on this page are picayune distinctions with very little potential for major misunderstandings. Getting them correct is more of a social signal than anything else, like eating salad with the correct fork in some places and not eating food with your left hand in others. I have real trouble imagining that a good point made with substitution erros is somehow less critical to the discussion th…

In simple social situations that may be true. But not being able to grasp the basics of language will have an effect on how someone communicates complicated thoughts and ideas. How would you expect someone taking on a programming challenge of say, an operating system, without the basic understanding of boolean logic to fair?

[deleted]

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#72

Post by cromulent »

xd wrote: post #13
pr0filer_ wrote: post #7

So, i can be a d*ck as long as i'm smart? Edit: I'm disturbed by the amount of grammar nazi's here that think the quality of someone's grammar reflects their personality... If the goal is to keep the conversation civilized, why not do something along the lines of "Doing X is a more nice thing to do".

I don't think it's really about being smart. Having a basic grasp of language so you can adequately articulate yourself in a conversation is critical to discussion. If you can't, then you probably shouldn't be taking part in the discussion anyway. Too many people will spill there emotions into a discussion with sub standard spelling and grammar which makes it very difficult for others to understand them, which leads…

> there emotions

Another good Muphry's law example.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#73

Post by corin_ »

raganwald wrote: post #46

Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…

I know people smarter than the vast majority of HN users (how can this really be judged, sure, but I'd place money on it, certainly far, far smarter than me) who wouldn't know those, and I know many, many people who are damn smart (just not fitting them into the "smarter than most people here", but definitely smart enough to belong here if they wanted to) who also wouldn't know them.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#74

Post by [deleted] »

raganwald wrote: post #46

Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…

[deleted]

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#75

Post by corin_ »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #42

So people who are detail-oriented grammarians are necessarily good commenters? Since when? The assumption here is that you can tell a comment is going to be stupid by testing whether or not the person understands homonyms. The only thing you check with that is language ability. I'd argue you'd be better off searching for common internet memes and cliches instead of original thinking -- since that's a sign of a lazy o…

They are homophones not homonyms - normally I wouldn't be so pedantic, but in a thread around the idea of people having prove they know meanings/spellings/etc, it seems suitible.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#76

Post by burgerbrain »

raganwald wrote: post #46

Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…

Really I think you could just get away with testing to see if the user knows the difference between an Ad Hominem and a standard insult.

There is little more annoying than someone who thinks they see logical fallacies where none exist and take the conversation from bad (real arguments intermixed with old fashioned insults) to worse (nothing but an argument from fallacy)

"I don't claim to know what an Ad Hominem is." would also be a passing response in my book...

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#77

Post by Symmetry »

markokocic wrote: post #45
silverbax88 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are equating that after years of education, with the subject of English (albeit American English) being a core class for EVERY YEAR of attendance, and with spell checkers on most forum communities, that if someone still goes out of their way to transpose "lose" with "loose", then, yes, they are probably an idiot.

> they are probably an idiot. Did you mean "He is probably an idiot." or "They are probably idiots."?

I didn't downvote you myself, but the use of the singular 'they' to denote someone of unknown gender has been in use in English since at least the time of Shakespeare (he used it in places). There was a movement a long time ago to try to make English more like Latin, removing things like the plural they, the split infinitive and so on. Nowadays, with Latin no longer regarded as the highest form of language we really don't have any reason to look down on traditional usage.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#78

Post by raganwald »

corin_ wrote: post #73
raganwald wrote: post #46

Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…

I know people smarter than the vast majority of HN users (how can this really be judged, sure, but I'd place money on it, certainly far, far smarter than me) who wouldn't know those, and I know many, many people who are damn smart (just not fitting them into the "smarter than most people here", but definitely smart enough to belong here if they wanted to) who also wouldn't know them.

I beg your pardon, I was trying to crack a funny. It seems it is impossible to parody an extremist belief without somebody mistaking it for the general article. I was attempting to parody the fundamentalist debating pedant point of view.

Poe’s Law strikes again: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poes_Law

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#79

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #74
raganwald wrote: post #46

Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…

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