Vanishing trolls

I have climbed Mt. Stupid enough times that, even at my advanced age, I am rarely willing to claim to be an expert even in areas I’m an expert in. I’ve been a speaker at a conference, giving technical talk to a small room full of PhDs and post-docs. I’m pretty educated - but I’m not that educated. The Q&A session wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t a good time, either.

When you run into a person who knows more than you in an area, you may be unable to realize it, due to the limitations of your knowledge. Duh. These days, I just know enough to accept the possibility in every situation. If you don’t, you run the risk of being LOUD WRONG.

LOUD WRONG is awful. It’s a simultaneous marker of your arrogance and your ignorance. After all, there really isn’t any shame in not knowing something, but having the confidence to scope out a losing position, plant a tent there, and defend it with your life is…. bad.

I have been loud wrong a few times. It’s embarrassing - or at least, it’s embarrassing if you’re willing to concede that you were wrong. At least I’ve never had problems with that part.

Which leads me to my trolls. The thing about being known for trying to engage with everyone in the comments of my videos, means that I run into a surprising amount of people who are LOUD WRONG. Generally, these people aren’t subject matter experts… but they sure think they are! Typically, they let me know how I’m wrong about something. I let them know, in a way more or less in-line with however they addressed me, how my position is supported with experience, evidence, or both.

It’s like magic, though, because they end up deleting their comments about 80% of the time. POOF!

Almost all of the remainder of the time, they just don’t respond.

On the one hand, it’s kind of a waste of time. On the other, it kind of feels good. It’s also probably good for my neuroplasticity :)