Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: paul cotter on 23/09/2022 19:14:50
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I miss contributions from "eternal student", he certainly helped my rather poor grasp of mathematics. I guess there just hasn't been any sufficiently challenging questions lately and he did express a degree of boredom with the lack of cutting edge topics. I sincerely hope it is not covid related as he did mention a family outbreak of said virus. Some people get a mild illness and others get thrashed ( me ) and some suffer long covid which apparently can go on for months or years.
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Hi.
Thanks for your kind words. I am well recovered from my bout of illness, thank you, although it did take out several weeks of productivity. Please take good care of yourself and make sure that you are fully recovered from your own illness.
I have just about caught up on everything I was supposed to do but have decided that I really can't spend the same amount of time on this forum in the future. I'm just a house keeper and carer now rather than any sort of professional mathematician but I've been letting my main duties slide a bit. So the house is falling apart and the garden is going to start annoying the neighbours etc.
This is the "just chat" section but that's already far too much about me and my situation. I see that you (paul cotter) are still contributing well, that is very much appreciated (by a few of us at least).
Turning this discussion to the website or forum in general: One of the things it can do well is provide a place for people like myself to read something or discuss something scientific. There are always going to be a few people who can't or just don't work in a professional capacity as any sort of scientist anymore. In principle, this forum is then a very good thing and there are always moderators and other experts who will try and provide some sensible discusson. It's also extremely rewarding when you are actually able to help someone else understand something or just consider something new. However, everything has a downside. Scientists can be a bit single minded and get obsessed about something. Using a forum is no exception, it can be addictive and it probably has been for me. Overall you need to try and be objective about what you are doing here. For example, over half of the new posts are really just trying to advertise something. It's important to step away from the computer and remind yourself that, realistically, you aren't going to achieve very much here. On the average day you'll be lucky to discuss something sensibly with one person, most of the time the other person(s) are just advertising their own products and ideas and nothing you do will make a jot of difference. In fact the more you interact with them, the higher the thread will go in the search tables like Google and that was just exactly what they wanted anyway. So you get token responses from them and that's all. Don't get me wrong, it is not and it should not all be about bringing them around to your opinion. Quite the contrary, you should spend the time to check that what their saying is or is not sensible and consider shifting your own position. However, you can then lose hours reading references and making your own Google searches before deciding that your time is being wasted.
Anyway, that's it. I'm too easily obsessed and lead myself to believe that what is done here could be as real or important as discussing something face-to-face or I.R.L. Meanwhile many of the other people making posts just see the thing as more of a game... they can and will waste your time and not think twice about it. Their goal (I would think) is just to further their own ends, such as advertising their own products or even just something utterly pointless, like making themselves seem important for a short while by presenting some information of dubious quality as if they are actually in some position of authority.
I'll make a special mention to all the moderators. They really do give up their time and bring some expertise to the site. There are also a few regular users that are great but I'm not going to mention them here because I'll end up offending those I miss out. Anyway, anyone who gives up their time and tries to read something that other people have written, that's impressive stuff in my opinion. Just stay healthy and get off the computer every now and again.
Best Wishes.
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For the Record, i would like to offer my deepest gratitude to Everyone here on this forum.
I have known Science, but TNS helps me in Understanding it.
Even the Trolls here end up teaching a good lesson or two.
Thank You Very Much to Everyone who contributes in here.
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Special Appreciation to All the Mods!
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P.S. - Please do not see this as time being wasted, what you contribute shall stay on here, & perhaps be helpful for future generations.
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