First, let me say Welcome to the Board! I've found this place to be both home and haven.

Second, I'm not a Mod or Admin here, so this isn't official policy by any stretch of anyone's imagination. It's just an observation by someone who's been online for a couple of decades and some friendly advice by your friendly neighborhood Spider Man (said having just finished the first movie, watched out of sequence...).

Some things I've noticed (personal experience, and by no means to be taken as admin or mod policy (and I've also "been there, done that" myself...)):

1. A lot of new people ask the exact same questions as have been asked by other new people, including things like, "what is the size of the universe."

Ugh!

Please, before asking these questions, do a quick search here on BAUT. You'll often find the other hundred or so questions, along with some very good responses, links, etc. that have been recorded here over the years. Doing searches helps keep this site uncluttered, so that questions that haven't been asked before don't get lost in the maze.

If, after having done a quick search here, if you can't find an answer to your question, try typing in a brief description on Wikipedia (link in my signature, below). It's CHOCK full of answers, most of which many people have spent many hours contributing to.

2. Please be polite. It's ok to object to what others think, so long as it's kept in good taste and is objective. Personal attacks aren't objective.

3. Thank you for listening. We'll now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.



- Mugs.

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

"Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." - Heinlein

"Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite." - Heinlein

Welcome to BAUT Mugaliens.

Please read the Rules here and Enjoy your stay.

One of the best ways to learn about something is to explain it to others.
In order to refine my explanation of anything, I usually need to explain it
four or five times, to four or five different people. I hope everyone can
gain the benefits of explaining stuff to others here on BAUT as I do.

The wonders of increasing hard drive capacity!

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

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

T. Anderson

Yes, good one, Neverfly.

That's always a good reminder. The very young can be excused, but people over 20? There are 6.5 billion people on the planet, chances are good you're NOT the 1st person to wonder and ask. That's what the Search Feature is there for.

The online counter I checked for a post yesterday and previously
checked for a post about a week ago apparently rolled over to
6.8 billion just within the last couple of days.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"The other planets?
Well, they just happen to be there, but the point of rockets is to explore them!"
-- Kai Yeves

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

T. Anderson

Gee.

Thanks, Neverfly (smirk!)

Plumbers... (LOL!)

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

"Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." - Heinlein

"Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite." - Heinlein

"There are 6.5 billion people on the planet..."

But what if the Newbie poster isn't from this planet?

Yeah... would that the old timers extended this extended this courtesy to newcomers.

now back to lurking... the only real function this board is good for!!

first post. hello fellow time travelers. will talk more soon

Yeah, you and Neverfly are such a bunch of cards...

I'm glad I'm among company with whom I can trade cards without any of us blowing a fuse!

I feel like I'm home. My thanks to you both. For keeping me honest, for ribbing me when it was deserved, and for having enough faith in me as a person to take it in stride - you guys are alright.

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

"Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." - Heinlein

"Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite." - Heinlein

Here's another example of what's becoming a pet peeve of mine:

I, for one, am sick and tired of people asking ridiculously base questions on this message board. This is not what this is for, particularly when the answers to your questions are merely a click away, already having been compiled by multitudes who're experts in their fields.

ALL TAKE NOTE

Please follow the links for details. (If I take the time to look this up - please take the time to follow them. Better yet, start your search foir knowledge there, learning how to Wikipedia, Google, and the dictionary, instead of asking us to do your work for you). In other words, read and learn, instead of asking inane questions here on BAUT.

When a photon enters the orbital space of an atom, it is captured by the atom, and excites an electron to a higher orbital. The higher orbital state isn't stable, but it does take some time to decay back to the lower orbital.

NOW - If I see a SINGLE post on this thread indicating that someone has NOT followed, AND READ the links I've included in the text above, instead of being LAZY and wasting my time, and the time of others, I WILL report you and your post to the MODs.

DON'T BE LAZY, PEOPLE!!! Learn something!

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

"Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." - Heinlein

"Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite." - Heinlein

I haven't followed and read your links.
Now report away.

Actually, I'll suggest you throttle very much back on your attitude, it's not appropriate on this board.

Also, threatening to report is skirting a Rule 16 violation

__________________
An emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people.

I'd say I just learned something, but I actually learned it when you started this thread. There's a "be nice" rule on this forum. That should be common sense. Either walk away from the darn board or learn something yourself.

__________________
Are you my mummy?

Mugaliens, I understand your argument- I agree with a lot of it.
But I think, too, you are generalizing a bit more than necessary. Sometimes folks need more than a link or a boring read. I know I prefer to discuss things than to sit reading about it sometimes too.

And I know I blow my fuse sometimes when I get irked and get carried away.

So.

This card ribbing you now as deserved.
If you keep underlining, capitalizing letters, putting every third word in bold and using exclamation points I am going to rename you "MugCTaliens!!!111" and reserve you a parking space on the Conspiracy Theories Forum.

Man.. Some of those Wikipedia math links?

I open them. Every thing's fine...
Then the page finishes loading...

My eyes glaze over. My palms get sweaty. I look at the screen a moment. Blink. Squint. Look harder. Start at the top... work my way down...
I then utter the wisdom,
the knowledge,
the learned magnitude of what I just read in one word: "Duhhh.....??"



Somebody help me...

<sigh>

You're right. I was getting carried away, and a bit testy.

I will say this, though - when people take the time to research something and imbed the link, I do follow it and read the link before posting, as it's the polite thing to do. Replying without bothering to follow the link is like ignoring half of what someone said and only responding to a small portion.

It's downright rude.

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

Perception isn't reality. It's merely an abstraction thereof, and quite often not a very good one at that.

"Staying young requires the unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." - Heinlein

"Freedom begins when you tell Ms. Grundy to go fly a kite." - Heinlein