Chasing off new members

[Bert OConnor]

I'm not trying to re-open the original post entitled: "Watch a friendly piece of advice chase off a new member".
By the time I received PhantomPilots.com's "Last Week's Most Popular Topics" in my email inbox, that thread was closed. Thanks. I'm too busy to read ALL the posts on PhantomPilots.com every day to keep up with all the latest commentaries, rather, I rely on the convenient (when threads aren't closed already) notice regarding the latest in my email inbox to see if I want to participate or not. But the top of last week's list was regarding Uptolevel6's MicroSD card problem.

I prefer extensive, well thought out posts, rather than those you usually see from the likes of supervisors, managers, VP's, at work who rather than explain themselves, rely on obfuscation to "answer" questions of import by using simple, one-liner or single paragraph answers to one's email questions.

Example: Mr. Smith (my supervisor) there is a problem with the project for client XYZ, what do you suggest I do in this situation that is in the best interest of both us our department and our company as well as for the client?

Mr. Smith's email reply: Yes, of course.

This is what most of the flamers would require of Uptolevel6 when he posted his original text regarding his issue with a MicroSD card. Replies like "Well that's fives minutes of my life I'll never get back" are atypical of those who revel in ridiculing others. In the video gaming world they're called TROLLS. They offer nothing, suggest nothing of import, they only poke the bear, hook the fish, consider everyone suckers, and rely on simple minded pithy comments as a means of mild entertainment at the expense of others. Another commenter about his desire to clarify what a Micro USB cable was and what a MicroSD card and his extensive pontification of their differences was, well, I think his way of showing just how big his brain was... on upmanship at its worse.

Simplistic answers or simplistic responses or simpleton comments regarding someone's post is indicative of those who don't think a whole lot about anything... in their world/reality, all that matters is BEER, BREAD, MILK and ICE and SMOKES (tobacco or weed, usually weed... insert that chuckling sound from Bevis and Butthead) and that's it. And oh, cheating on their taxes. Easy peasy. Life's simple. I'm sick of simpletons with simple smarmy, snarky, flaming responses to people's earnest queries and posts. If you don't like the length of what someone has written, don't agree with them, or have anything constructive to say, just read, don't comment. If you have something constructive (re: not destructive) to say, post away. Then again, those types who post destructive comments are borderline sociopaths who actually have no idea nor care that they are hurting others and offering no help by their thoughtless "contribution" to the discussion.

Uptolevel6 is a thinker. He's not a "just do it man! " kinda guy. He isn't the idiot who goes out and flies his quad around an airport's final approach to get cool shots of commercial airliners landing and who relies on the "I didn't know it was illegal" nod nod wink wink as his well thought out legal defense when law enforcement arrests him and the FAA fines him.

Sure, his post was long, but Uptolevel6 wanted everyone to know he had thought this all out beforehand whereas many posters here prefer obfuscation or the deliberate lack of clarity to make themselves appear they thought things out but really hadn't; to potentially avoid ridicule but then reserve the right to insult others who were being clear (re: Uptolevel6) as a way of making themselves feel superior or as I stated earlier, they're just trolls looking to poke the bear, stir the pot, be the monkey in the wrench.

If you have something positive and helpful to contribute, please do, otherwise keep your snarky responses to yourself and move on to some other topic.

 

[impilot51]

I agree with what you have said, but I must disagree on a least one point. Perhaps he really is a "thinker" and wanted to share, but I also think he was also a bit of a poser. I asked two questions that never got answered. It concerns the nature of digital media, the fact that you either have the capacity to record fast enough our you don't, and how exactly does faster capacity to record translate into a better quality picture. Bottom line is it doesn't, but I never got an answer from him. I believe that's because he didn't have an answer.

So while I agree that sophomoric responses don't help the conversation, putting info out there as fact that is not fact is just as bad.

I have found that people that truly are experts in a given field rarely have to expound on their accomplishments in such a way as to belittle others to try to garner respect. While the conversation did deteriorate to a level that makes sophomores look quite smart, I don't think Uptolevel6 helped him self all that much bragging about accomplishments, equipment, locations etc, either. If your going to talk at that length on a relatively simple subject, then you better be prepared to defend your position when others ask question your conclusions. I questioned and got zero response. And I did so politely asking for clarification, not in an insulting manner.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[0DRK3RT]

Full disclosure: I stopped reading the post you refer to after realizing how lengthy it was. I didn't comment on it or read what others wrote.

Now, I agree with your point of responding with relevant useful information. But, I must respectfully disagree with you on a few points.

I don't believe someone must write a dissertation on a topic in order to convey information in an articulate way. A well thought out post doesn't have to be extensive if the author can express himself clearly. Nor does a long winded post prove you're "a thinker" or intelligent.

Simplicity is actually very important in effective communication. By definition, the quality of being easy to understand. Apparently to you, simplicity is a characteristic of an unintelligent marijuana user and tax cheat. I get the tongue-in-cheek humor there, but when used in a post/rant expressing your annoyance of "flamers" and "trolls," I suggest you refrain from using the same snarky sarcasm you despise. It comes across as snobby and detracts from the point you are trying to make.

Speaking of trolls. Now, it seems that anyone with a strong opinion that differs from theirs, who shares it in what appears to be an open forum where all opinions are welcome (as long as they are agreeable) is considered a troll.

In other words, if you don’t agree with me, you call me a troll. That’s how it works. Calling someone a troll merely because they disagree with you is just a way to discredit their opinion so you don’t have to actually debate them on it. It has become a "get out of jail free” card that's commonly used whenever someone else challenges them too strongly. It allows them to be right without having to actually defend their position. These types of people are equally as prominent on here.

Anyway, good points made all around. I think everyone can appreciate you took the time to defend this guys post that I gather was received negatively. Cheers.

 

[Bert OConnor]

Being that I come from a professional film / video background myself, I too can pontificate ad nauseum about how I've edited video for this movie studio and that; I can wax and wane poetically about my extensive experience and expertise in this and that; I can laundry list all my professional accomplishments, and yes, look like a horse's patoot in the process. When I use the term "TROLL" my intent was not to appear to be that which I despise or to be despised as much as the despiser (even if that's a real word) but my intent was to us "TROLL" to describe those whose only joy in life is trolling forums, poking fun at people, being disrespectful to others for no other reason than that's what they do, it is what justifies (in their mind) their existence.

I myself have posted here and elsewhere on the 'net what I consider accurate knowledge regarding some technical "thing" only to be trolled, told I'm wrong and that I don't know anything, that I need to go back to school, that I'm old... what do I know, etc.
If someone is earnest in their passing on their knowledge, I don't consider them a TROLL, but if someone's "... X number of minutes of my life wasted..." comment regarding a long post, I don't see where that's helping matters and only inflames people who feel they've been attacked on a personal level and vitriolic comments like the loss of minutes in one's life serve no other purpose than to irritate others because someone felt they were wronged by being forced to read such a long post.

I don't have to use the word TROLL, rather I could use the words even more inflammatory paralleling their vitriolic comment to some body part in their nether region, something they sit on every day... but I don't do that and I'm not doing that here and now. TROLL seemed innocent enough yet describes someone who deliberately revels in making snide comments about other's posts.

I don't work with movie studios, I don't work on major motion picture projects nor do I supply them support and technical advice. I usually don't pontificate about myself and rarely toot my own horn, but if I contribute some piece of knowledge or advice that is the result of some past experience, take it as you will, its not an invitation to tell me I'm F'ing wrong. If I learned something and as screwy as it may sound... worked for me... or... I have advice born out of past experience(s) that may or may not help someone, fine, let them take my advice or ignore it... it's not open for debate nor snide commentary. I DO get angry when after 30+ years in my profession someone tells me I don't know what I'm talking about because I don't write video compression code for major video encoding companies... which happened to me recently on some other forum elsewhere on the interweb. Sure, all video codecs boil down to one single codec that has many "wrappers" and yet having come from a film background (still and video) I can see visually that certain video codecs provide better looking video than others and yet some alleged "expert" told me there was no visual difference. Unless you've developed motion picture film or still photo film and looked at the godd*mmed grain (in video their called artifacts) and seen what poorly exposed images and finely exposed images look like to the human eye, this guy had no f-ing idea what he was talking about. See what I mean by long posts and pontificating? Not to mention one video codec creates small video file sizes while another codec creates huge video file sizes and in the video world, file size = data quantity = image clarity / quality or the lack thereof.

I may not be an expert in many things but there are a few things hands-on, in the field, in professional settings and by the seat of my pants situations, I've managed to pull things off nicely and have avoided costly mistakes that resulted in a fine finished product the client was very pleased with. And oh I've made some boo boo's too. I'm not perfect and I know that, it's also called humility... something a lot of alleged "pros" in my profession lack. Being an arrogant pompous *** does not equal being good at what you do.

Now that I've beat this horse to death, burned it, then eaten it with a fine Chianti, I step off my soapbox and lay this to rest.

 

[0DRK3RT]

I just read the entire thread. Those types of "wasted my time" comments are made out of frustration because it contained so much unnecessary information. I guess I'm not clear as to why this bothered you so much? You're obviously not new to forums and this certainly shouldn't be the first time you've experienced/read snarky responses to posts.

 

[Bert OConnor]

I just read the entire thread. Those types of "wasted my time" comments are made out of frustration because it contained so much unnecessary information. I guess I'm not clear as to why this bothered you so much? You're obviously not new to forums and this certainly shouldn't be the first time you've experienced/read snarky responses to posts.

Yup. It's been building for a few years now. Been on the interweb since dirt was new and was BBS'ing over modems and telephone. Been flamed so much I'm a golden brown. I guess sometimes it just irks the snot out of me and I feel compelled to write something, get it off my chest, then ignore it for a while until the next time someone's gone overboard in their snarkiness. Don't worry, this isn't a regular habit of mine, I was a little dismayed that the original thread was closed before I was notified by email that this thread even existed. Like I said, I don't read this day in day out, but just happened to this weekend. Have a nice day, thanks for being kind.