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Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

cs.purdue.edu

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Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#11

Post by sofal »

stcredzero wrote: post #10

I once witnessed a wily 40-something Master's student torturing one of the department's young star PhD candidates. The PhD student had caught one of his mistakes and was taking it back, as any honorable academic should. The Master's student continued on, pretending as if the PhD student was insisting on the correctness of his earlier assertion. You could see the urgency with which the PhD student was trying to roll o…

I've read this comment about ten times now and I still can't quite understand who was doing what to who. Am I going crazy?

Edit: I think I see now. The master's student was the distressed one.

Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#14

Post by stcredzero »

sofal wrote: post #11
stcredzero wrote: post #10

I once witnessed a wily 40-something Master's student torturing one of the department's young star PhD candidates. The PhD student had caught one of his mistakes and was taking it back, as any honorable academic should. The Master's student continued on, pretending as if the PhD student was insisting on the correctness of his earlier assertion. You could see the urgency with which the PhD student was trying to roll o…

I've read this comment about ten times now and I still can't quite understand who was doing what to who. Am I going crazy? Edit: I think I see now. The master's student was the distressed one.

Nope. The PhD was the distressed one.

Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#15

Post by robertk »

stcredzero wrote: post #14
sofal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read this comment about ten times now and I still can't quite understand who was doing what to who. Am I going crazy? Edit: I think I see now. The master's student was the distressed one.

Nope. The PhD was the distressed one.

Please rephrase. It sounds like an interesting anecdote if it were understandable.

Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#16

Post by stcredzero »

robertk wrote: post #15
stcredzero wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. The PhD was the distressed one.

Please rephrase. It sounds like an interesting anecdote if it were understandable.

M = Master's student P = PhD candidate

M discovers P is wrong and says why.

P realizes his mistake and admits it like any honest academic would.

M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns.

P relents again, embarassed, since sticking to his guns would be anathema to his being.

M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns.

P tries harder to make it clear that he's relenting.

M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns...

I wish I could remember what they were talking about. M kept the other guy going for quite awhile and got him pretty riled up.

In essence, it was Trolling, but in person. (There is a good chance that this thread is trolling of the more common online variety.)

Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#17

Post by sofal »

stcredzero wrote: post #16
robertk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please rephrase. It sounds like an interesting anecdote if it were understandable.

M = Master's student P = PhD candidate M discovers P is wrong and says why. P realizes his mistake and admits it like any honest academic would. M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns. P relents again, embarassed, since sticking to his guns would be anathema to his being. M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns. P tries harder to make it clear that he's relenting. M keeps on going on like P is…

Ah, okay. It was just the last sentence that threw me for a loop:

"Never have I seen someone so distressed at being told he was right."

From the anecdote I understood that the PhD candidate was being told he was wrong. Anyway, I promise I'm not a troll, at least not on purpose.

Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#18

Post by Xichekolas »

stcredzero wrote: post #16
robertk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please rephrase. It sounds like an interesting anecdote if it were understandable.

M = Master's student P = PhD candidate M discovers P is wrong and says why. P realizes his mistake and admits it like any honest academic would. M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns. P relents again, embarassed, since sticking to his guns would be anathema to his being. M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns. P tries harder to make it clear that he's relenting. M keeps on going on like P is…

I'm upmodding you because that was an incredibly clear and concise way to relay a conversation between two people in the third person.

Much better than: "And he was like 'blah blah' and then she was like 'bleh bleh' and then he replied 'blih blih.'"

I'm going to make an effort to use the 'assign letters to people' approach next time I try to say something like that.

Re: Doug Comer: How to Insult a Computer Scientist

#19

Post by [deleted] »

sofal wrote: post #17
stcredzero wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M = Master's student P = PhD candidate M discovers P is wrong and says why. P realizes his mistake and admits it like any honest academic would. M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns. P relents again, embarassed, since sticking to his guns would be anathema to his being. M keeps on going on like P is sticking to his guns. P tries harder to make it clear that he's relenting. M keeps on going on like P is…

Ah, okay. It was just the last sentence that threw me for a loop: "Never have I seen someone so distressed at being told he was right." From the anecdote I understood that the PhD candidate was being told he was wrong. Anyway, I promise I'm not a troll, at least not on purpose.

[deleted]
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