There are probably lots of other good computer sellers on eBay. The one I linked is just the only one I can personally vouch for.
But I also can’t sit still. I move from place to place to place.
Maybe this tendency is being promoted by the "smart"phone. It also occurred to me that part of the no-pinging phenomenon may be attributable to the near-impossibility of precise typing on these phones that are always thinking they know what you meant to type. Lots of oddly-spelled usernames, and also lots of very similar usernames on forums like this.
I’ve never been into more than just passing fun and information being on here. Sometimes I have to put it down, but I’m on here way more than I should be. Research is triple hard this way, I do know that, but I’ve found workarounds, and have had help learning how to archive, pm, direct quote, etc. There is an ask.win on the sidebar. It has helped me. I guess I don’t really understand the pinging part you’re talking about. I don’t hide anything bc I may say stupid stuff, but never illegal or red flag stuff. People who do that, to me, have be insanely stupid. Or doing it on purpose to goad others or make the site look bad.
On Free Republic, at least back in its heyday, a lot of active users maintained ping lists of users who had an interest in particular topics and/or had a history of making worthwhile comments on particular topics. It ensured that a lot of people were alerted to a post/thread and gathered in one thread to discuss. Some lists were huge and open to anyone who asked to be added (e.g. the "bang list" for all posts RKBA related), other lists were custom creations of a user who happened to respect the contributions of a small list of other users. And some people just remembered the usernames of one or two people who were experts on a particular topic, and pinged them to any thread on that topic.
For example, I remember a burst of news claiming that North Korean submarines were posing a threat of ambush attacks on US forces in the region. Instead of just random people popping off uninformed comments, several people who happened to see the thread remembered users who had serious first-hand knowledge of military submarines and related matters, and pinged them to the thread. Next thing you know, you have a long-established user who has recent direct experience monitoring submarine traffic both from other submarines and from reconnaissance aircraft that receive and analyze sonar and other raw intel being collected by our subs on a real-time basis. This guy laughed off the idea of North Korean subs ambushing any US military forces at sea, noting that the NK subs are so noisy "they sound like freight trains Other people with relevant experience also added knowledgeable comments, and "freepers" were steered away from falling for sensational misinformation. That kind of discussion almost never happens here.
Here, if somebody posts a link to an important article, it only gets seen by people who happen to be reading while it's either newly posted, or if it happens to get boosted to the front page. Commenting is usually not very substantive, and a lot of users who might have a lot to add will never see it. This is exacerbated by the fact that this site does not police duplicate posting, so the same article gets posted 10 or 20 times, and each time a few users see it and comment, but it's rare to get a serious discussion going with the participation of the users best qualified to discuss a particular topic. Most of the commenting here is just off-the-cuff emotional reactions and polarized virtue signalling. This forum could accomplish so much more, if people would get off their phones and get serious about the time they spend here.
I would have to agree with everything you said. Now I understand the pinging. I, myself, have pinged a few people, sometimes for laughs, sometimes bc of their specific knowledge, sometimes bc of their post history and general knowledge of the subject. After awhile you get used to who knows what, and who is serious.
And I also agree with the duplicate posts. It’s sometime ridiculous, and I try to spend time in new to combat that and other issues. There are real karma whores here, who have been here 30 days but yet have 10000/10000 karma. All they are doing is working the system. I try to avoid them in conversations. One guy has a download bot and/stalkers following him, but he’s good.
There are probably lots of other good computer sellers on eBay. The one I linked is just the only one I can personally vouch for.
Maybe this tendency is being promoted by the "smart"phone. It also occurred to me that part of the no-pinging phenomenon may be attributable to the near-impossibility of precise typing on these phones that are always thinking they know what you meant to type. Lots of oddly-spelled usernames, and also lots of very similar usernames on forums like this.
I’ve never been into more than just passing fun and information being on here. Sometimes I have to put it down, but I’m on here way more than I should be. Research is triple hard this way, I do know that, but I’ve found workarounds, and have had help learning how to archive, pm, direct quote, etc. There is an ask.win on the sidebar. It has helped me. I guess I don’t really understand the pinging part you’re talking about. I don’t hide anything bc I may say stupid stuff, but never illegal or red flag stuff. People who do that, to me, have be insanely stupid. Or doing it on purpose to goad others or make the site look bad.
On Free Republic, at least back in its heyday, a lot of active users maintained ping lists of users who had an interest in particular topics and/or had a history of making worthwhile comments on particular topics. It ensured that a lot of people were alerted to a post/thread and gathered in one thread to discuss. Some lists were huge and open to anyone who asked to be added (e.g. the "bang list" for all posts RKBA related), other lists were custom creations of a user who happened to respect the contributions of a small list of other users. And some people just remembered the usernames of one or two people who were experts on a particular topic, and pinged them to any thread on that topic.
For example, I remember a burst of news claiming that North Korean submarines were posing a threat of ambush attacks on US forces in the region. Instead of just random people popping off uninformed comments, several people who happened to see the thread remembered users who had serious first-hand knowledge of military submarines and related matters, and pinged them to the thread. Next thing you know, you have a long-established user who has recent direct experience monitoring submarine traffic both from other submarines and from reconnaissance aircraft that receive and analyze sonar and other raw intel being collected by our subs on a real-time basis. This guy laughed off the idea of North Korean subs ambushing any US military forces at sea, noting that the NK subs are so noisy "they sound like freight trains Other people with relevant experience also added knowledgeable comments, and "freepers" were steered away from falling for sensational misinformation. That kind of discussion almost never happens here.
Here, if somebody posts a link to an important article, it only gets seen by people who happen to be reading while it's either newly posted, or if it happens to get boosted to the front page. Commenting is usually not very substantive, and a lot of users who might have a lot to add will never see it. This is exacerbated by the fact that this site does not police duplicate posting, so the same article gets posted 10 or 20 times, and each time a few users see it and comment, but it's rare to get a serious discussion going with the participation of the users best qualified to discuss a particular topic. Most of the commenting here is just off-the-cuff emotional reactions and polarized virtue signalling. This forum could accomplish so much more, if people would get off their phones and get serious about the time they spend here.
I would have to agree with everything you said. Now I understand the pinging. I, myself, have pinged a few people, sometimes for laughs, sometimes bc of their specific knowledge, sometimes bc of their post history and general knowledge of the subject. After awhile you get used to who knows what, and who is serious.
And I also agree with the duplicate posts. It’s sometime ridiculous, and I try to spend time in new to combat that and other issues. There are real karma whores here, who have been here 30 days but yet have 10000/10000 karma. All they are doing is working the system. I try to avoid them in conversations. One guy has a download bot and/stalkers following him, but he’s good.