Timeline for On the role of anonymity in a site dedicated to research-level mathematics
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 19, 2014 at 22:14 | comment | added | SamB | What happened to this "Smaug" fellow, anyway? | |
| Apr 18, 2014 at 8:21 | comment | added | user45639 | @GerhardPaseman : Well, dear Gerhard "Great-Chief-On-The-Trail Of-Perfect-Content" Paseman (no harm intended..., BTW, speaking of good content, I'm truly amazed and flabbergasted by the maths on Paul Garrett's homepage... When does he sleep ?), you're not alone in this wild-goose chase. "Always-Looking-For-Perfect-Content-And-Feeding-Grundging-Students-With-It-And-Not-Beeing-Dispirited-By-Mathematical-Garbage-We-Encounter-Here-And-There" is a truly wonderful description of our common everyday job. Sincerely yours, Jean-Marc "Quite-Wrongly-Impersonating-The-Stupid-Dragon-King-Smaug" Patin. | |
| Apr 18, 2014 at 7:47 | comment | added | user45639 | @alvarezpaiva : yes, you're wonderfully right, I do believe professional mathematicians ARE professionnal poets in a singular way, but, (even if it is a bit beside the point), I'm not really convinced by your remark on publications: Fernando PESSOA and Emily DICKINSON were two of the greatest poets of all time, and they never published anything in their lifetime (please, DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME : I EVIDENTLY DO NOT COMPARE MYSELF (or my smaug-worm-self) WITH THESE TWO ABSOLUTE GENIUSES, who, in their fied, were in the "Gromov-Perelman-Tao-Bombieri-Ramanujan-Euler-Gauss-Grthendieck" class...). | |
| Apr 17, 2014 at 18:35 | comment | added | Gerhard Paseman | @Smaug, for an example of a "free society" of the type in your comment, look at the (formerly USENET newsgroup) sci.math. The quality there has deteriorated because of the lack of self-moderation. This is a (partly community-) moderated forum with goals for a specific audience, and with a willingness to share the results with a broader public. The quality is maintained only by constant vigilance: give good content, and (mostly) we don't care if you are dog or dragon. Bad content, and you are discouraged regardless of handle. Gerhard "Always Looking For Good Content" Paseman, 2014.04.17. | |
| Apr 17, 2014 at 14:24 | comment | added | alvarezpaiva | Smaug, I guess a professional mathematician is like a professional poet: he or she must, from time to time, publish his work and thus submit it to public scrutiny, and these publications have a certain impact in the way he or she makes a living. I have to say that I'm quite happy to share this space with people who just like mathematics or studied it at some point. I was just wondering if there were good reasons to participate anonymously. | |
| Apr 17, 2014 at 13:04 | comment | added | user45639 | @alvarezpaiva : I thank you for your considerate answer, and must say that I truly understand your point of view. What is not absolutely crystal clear (at least for me) is "what is exactly a professional mathematician" : at least a PhD student ? someone who has a non-empty publication list ? anybody who correctly uses non-trivial theorems in his work, even if this work is rather far away from mainstream mathematics ? any mathematical teacher ...? Moreover, I've got the feeling that MO is a free society where everyboby can let any worthless question, comment or answer die silently undisturbed. | |
| Apr 17, 2014 at 12:29 | comment | added | alvarezpaiva | When I posed the question I had not realized there were good reasons for participating anonymously. On the other hand, if this is to be a question and answer site for professional mathematicians (and this is how this site defines itself), a high ratio of naive, poorly posed questions can be a problem because having to pick the good needles from the huge haystack will discourage participation from the people who make this site worthwhile. I still think that anonymity encourages sloppiness and not thinking before interacting, but I can understand that it is a price to pay for other benefits. | |
| Apr 17, 2014 at 9:56 | history | edited | user45639 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
I've deleted a short sentence, because it (possibly...) sounded provocative, and I did not intend it at all.
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| Apr 17, 2014 at 9:50 | history | answered | user45639 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |