Re: [EM] Discourse

2013-07-02 Thread Juho Laatu 
On 1.7.2013, at 23.12, Benjamin Grant wrote:

 Thanks for everyone's candor and feedback. I can certainly appreciate how
 annoying it is to deal with someone like myself that 1) is often asking
 questions that everyone else had heard many times before and knows the
 answer by heart, and 2) someone who may not be able to understand the
 explanations when they are given.
 
 I am running into #2 a lot, so much that I am wondering if this list is
 really mostly for people who are already trained, steeped, and comfortable
 with concepts like utlity and Batesian regret, with high level math and set
 theory, and so on.

Some people are very kowledgeable here, some less. That's no problem as long as 
the discussions are good. There are many kind of people on the EM list. Some 
have academic interests in this area, some are active on practical reforms, 
some promote their own favourite methods and criteria, some are just interested 
in following the discussions. The language on this list is sometimes polite, 
sometimes not. Your mails have certainly been better than many others. Welcome 
to the list. It is no problem if you don't know all the used terminology yet. 
Because of the multitude of topics and writers of this list, people are already 
used to reading and answering those mails that they are interested of and skip 
the rest. Despite of all the quarreling and messy posts, I think the EM list is 
a well working mailing list that has also lots of good content for various 
needs. Hopefully for you too.

Juho



 
 It may simply require more time and effort than I have to give to understand
 the answers to these questions, I certainly do not have the option presently
 to take courses in these advanced subjects. I was hoping there would be a
 more down-to-earth way to get this stuff, but whether there's no way to
 dumb this stuff down, or whether it's just not something that people here
 are interested in, either way I can appreciate it.
 
 Finally, while I was surprised that erudition didn't eliminate the
 churlishness, my best approach to that fact is probably to get a thicker
 skin. I'm not promising to be a punching bag, mind you, but I can probably
 be a little less sensitive and just assume that these groups are more
 pugnacious than I had imagined.
 
 Thanks everyone. I'm going to keep my subscription to these groups for now
 (if I may), and I will try to be mindful of all of the above if and when I
 continue interacting with them.
 
 -Benn Grant
 eFix Computer Consulting
 b...@4efix.com
 603.283.6601
 
 
 
 Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info


Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info

Re: [EM] Discourse

2013-07-01 Thread Benjamin Grant 
Thanks for everyone's candor and feedback. I can certainly appreciate how
annoying it is to deal with someone like myself that 1) is often asking
questions that everyone else had heard many times before and knows the
answer by heart, and 2) someone who may not be able to understand the
explanations when they are given.

I am running into #2 a lot, so much that I am wondering if this list is
really mostly for people who are already trained, steeped, and comfortable
with concepts like utlity and Batesian regret, with high level math and set
theory, and so on.

It may simply require more time and effort than I have to give to understand
the answers to these questions, I certainly do not have the option presently
to take courses in these advanced subjects. I was hoping there would be a
more down-to-earth way to get this stuff, but whether there's no way to
dumb this stuff down, or whether it's just not something that people here
are interested in, either way I can appreciate it.

Finally, while I was surprised that erudition didn't eliminate the
churlishness, my best approach to that fact is probably to get a thicker
skin. I'm not promising to be a punching bag, mind you, but I can probably
be a little less sensitive and just assume that these groups are more
pugnacious than I had imagined.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to keep my subscription to these groups for now
(if I may), and I will try to be mindful of all of the above if and when I
continue interacting with them.

-Benn Grant
eFix Computer Consulting
b...@4efix.com
603.283.6601



Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info

Re: [EM] Discourse

2013-07-01 Thread Kristofer Munsterhjelm 

On 07/01/2013 07:27 PM, Benjamin Grant wrote:

Did my arrival somehow bring less civility and/or tolerance, or was this
always a rough-and-tumble place before I even got here?

I would hate to think that I brought the level of conversation down,
politeness-wise.


If you're counting my recent response to DLW in that, let me say that it 
is not typical of me. I try to generally be more civil than that. So at 
least as concerns me, I think you were just unlucky.


On another note, I've been thinking about writing a reply to your 
fairness/quality ideas, but I haven't had the time to do it yet. I'll 
try to get around to it, eventually :-)



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