If someone hasn't read Relativity because they can't understand the math and the wording of it - ... Is it then Ok to ask questions in the way of 'Is this how it is?' and go on to describe how you see it (even if the way you describe it will more than likely sound stupid to the people who understand it).... so you can arrive at the answer by someone with better Knowledge of the subject coming back to you saying "Yes that is correct" or "No.. this is how it is"...
is it ok to ask questions in that way?

That sounds like a fine way of asking questions. Outlining how you see it often lets other folk zero in on where there's a misapprehension, or give you a single-sentence response saying "Yes, you're right". Simply asking a very broad, open-ended question may get fewer responses because folk can't be bothered typing a whole tutorial.

People who get into difficulty here do so because they make declarative statements ("This is the way it is ...") on the basis of poor knowledge, and then respond defensively when a mistake is pointed out.

Grant Hutchison

Thanks Grant

Just to clarify why I was asking.. for instance, if someone tries to describe how they see things when questioning on a subject that they don't fully understand - then it could come across as attempting to push an ATM when not intended

Not if you write: "Here's how I understand it ... Is this correct?"
People do that sort of thing all the time in Q&A, so I wouldn't worry if I were you.

Grant Hutchison

cheers :-)

Even people like me who do come across as against the mainstream (ATM) ask questions because there is such a lot of science that it is impossible to know more than a slice of it. The key is to ask a question and know when a follow up question is leading away from accepted thinking and not ask it.

By the way Grant Hutchison thank you very much for the last question you answered for me. It was a perfect example of your right answer and my not interpreting wrongly beyond it or out of context (well writing anything else down of where I was looking at that time actually ... whatever it was), cheers

That sort of question and the given answer is valuable to any member that wants to go to read good science.

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"Nature is obliged to let reality determine its laws, whereas mathematics is under no such constraint."

thanks Micheal I,ll keep that in mind...

deja vu

all over again!

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

what you mean all over again?

joke

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

oops I'm more used to someone having a go
(makes a refreshing change)

Doesn't it just?

Safest assumption here on BAUT is that any given comment that isn't a direct answer is much more likely to be a quip or pun of some kind. The board rules are pretty explicit about snarking off at others, and the practice is Darwinian enough to be pretty rare.

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