In my early online days, sure*. But at some point, all that "internet as I go" rubs off, and you not only learn things but also become more proficient at finding the info you're looking for. And at some point you run the risk of actually using what you find to undermine your own viewpoint and changing the way you see things.

*and on occasional (bad) days in the present

Quote:Original post by Awoken
Chris Reynolds I tried giving you a very helpful rating thinking you'd get a rating of like 2 or something, but it didn't work. Seems you've been eternally banished to the underworld of "0". how come?

A lot of people here don't like my political opinions. I don't mind the rating damage, I end up getting a lot of intelligent responses/information from others' viewpoints. Being 20, I have a lot to learn, so I keep coming back.

However, I think a lot of the "use the internet as I go" type threads end up in pretty good debate, at a distance.

I hope when I release my game in 5 or 6 months that I might get a rating of 2 or so for at least being a game programmer, but I'm not counting on it

Quote:Original post by Oluseyi

Quote:Original post by Awoken
Chris Reynolds I tried giving you a very helpful rating thinking you'd get a rating of like 2 or something, but it didn't work. Seems you've been eternally banished to the underworld of "0". how come?

Your rating is too low to materially affect his. Plus, ratings are a bit like gravity. Even I might not be able to budge his rating right now, if enough people have rated him negatively (remember, ratings are clamped to a floor of 0 rather than going negative).

Why are ratings clamped at 0 anyway? There are some people that I almost want to see just how bad their rating got.

Sorry, but I don't quite get the point. Are you trying to rant about with people who act like that or do you feel enlightened about your superior logic/spirituality/whatever and are looking for others having the same experience?

(EDIT: Had the page left open in my browser for too long and didn't see your reply, now directly above mine. I take it you just want to discuss this kind of people.)

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If, whilst reading posts from other people on these forums, I'd "frequently recognized the error of their ways and picked out their flaws of logic and reasoning", I'd probably start asking myself whether I wasn't too fixed on a certain idea or a certain way to see things.

Technical discussions are pretty much self-correcting around this forum, and if politics or taste are involved, everyone has at least something valid or worthwhile speaking for their views. Even if I strongly disagree with someone, it's always useful to be able detach myself from my own views and see how they might have arrived at theirs.

If I instead just looked up some information on the internet that supports my view or invalidates theirs to reaffirm my own ideas, quenching that itch, I would a) not allow my views to be changed and b) become more and more falsely confirmed on my own point of view.

The problem is that, given the internet, you will find information that supports or discredits absolutely anything. Combined with the funny human trait of Confirmation bias this can lead to really ugly results.