Damn PM messages

Nigel Goodwin said:

A friend's son's girlfriend (if that makes sense?) is a twin, and one applied for Cambridge, and the other for Oxford - both were provisionally accepted, pended their A level results. One twin took three A levels, went out and had fun, got her A grades and went to Cambridge. The other (said girlfriend) tried to take far more subjects (why?), never went out, worked every waking moment, and still ended up dropping most of them as she wasn't doing well enough. In the end she didn't get the three A grades, and was rejected by Oxford - ending up at St Andrews (where the Royal Family go), who have a lower entry requirement. Apparently she hates the place (because it's not Oxford!), and is going to summer school at Oxford this summer - £15,000 for eight weeks!!!!!.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have skipped far more classes in junior high, and high school, and wouldn't have taken crap from my elementary school teachers who didn't like it when I didn't take what they said as the word of God.

I agree with Nigel completely. There were lots of students of similar ilk to the "I wnt prjt plz" members here. Some are pretty stupid, others can barely speak English.

I didn't choose Bedford college I only went there because my company sent me there as part of a modern apprenticeship scheme. I spent five years there and the work got easier instead of harder. The first year was mostly exam based with a few piratical assignments, plagiarism was dealt with fairly harshly and the exam conditions and submission deadlines were very strict. Over a period of time more subjects became assignment based and the lecturers started giving students more help than the really should, deadlines became more flexible and plagiarism became the norm and not surprisingly pass rates shot up to >90%.

I gradually started to get more disheartened and lazy. I started handing assignments in later and later, until the final assignment (which should have been in, in the middle of June) was handed in at the end of September after everyone else had finished the course!

I've learnt most of what I know from the Internet, books and work. I'm very weak on things I've learnt purely from college like maths and some areas of electrical principles. Although I consider myself to be a reasonably competent engineer I don't think my experience at college has helped me much. I've struggled with some things and had to rely on colleges who have come straight from university and I don't have the confidence to study at a higher level as I fear I lack the foundation level stuff.

I've learnt most of what I know from the Internet, books and work. I'm very weak on things I've learnt purely from college like maths and some areas of electrical principles. Although I consider myself to be a reasonably competent engineer I don't think my experience at college has helped me much. I've struggled with some things and had to rely on colleges who have come straight from university and I don't have the confidence to study at a higher level as I fear I lack the foundation level stuff.

Click to expand...

Hero, I feel for you. I didn't understand what university was about until I started graduate studies. It was only then, I could see how insecure, and uninformed some of the professorship really was. My grad school experience only made me bitter, and resentful. I thought what was important was knowledge and understanding; the only thing that seems to matter is political affiliation. It also seems to matter not what you know, but where you went to school. Most of the people hiring others do not have the intelligence to evaluate the prospects, and only rely on the signing off of some other authority. Makes me feel angry.
I think you are above average intelligence, and you have provided some excellent insight, for what ever that is worth. Keep your head up, hopefully you will not go unnoticed. Your understanding of the basics may be better than you think, and you DO know where to find information when you need to.

I know what you mean. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have skipped far more classes in junior high, and high school, and wouldn't have taken crap from my elementary school teachers who didn't like it when I didn't take what they said as the word of God.

Click to expand...

It isn't just elementary school teachers who are hung up on their egos. The university classes I got the best marks in were usually the ones where I flattered the professors, and the worst marks where I had ideas which differed.

HarveyH42 said:

Sorry to be laughing... I got banned for 24 hours once to get my attention, because I had elected not to receive PMs, because I didn't want to deal with these messages. Not really much into Email to begin with.

Since having enabled PMs (January, I think...), gotten 14. All but 3 should have been posted public, not to mention, I have no idea why I was selected, perhaps bulk mailing...

I know the new member rules have changed some over the past year. There was a certain number of replies required, before a new member could start a new thread (spam control). Guess PMs are a work around.

Click to expand...

That doesn't seem fair. You're telling us that we are required to respond to PMs?

BeeBop said:

The university classes I got the best marks in were usually the ones where I flattered the professors, and the worst marks where I had ideas which differed.

Click to expand...

Quite true-- I see it daily! A bud of mine corrected the calculus profs. chalkboard mistakes aloud in class. Needless to say he endured a difficult semester and whined about the prof. often. He would have been better off sitting their with his mouth shut despite the prof's errors.

HiTech said:

That doesn't seem fair. You're telling us that we are required to respond to PMs?

Click to expand...

No, it's your choice - BUT, if I can't PM you as a moderator, and I need to for any reason - I'll 'attract your attention' with a 24 hour ban (which allows me to enter a message you get on screen).

No, it's your choice - BUT, if I can't PM you as a moderator, and I need to for any reason - I'll 'attract your attention' with a 24 hour ban (which allows me to enter a message you get on screen).

Click to expand...

But that is not right. Why should one get banned for 24 hours by simply choosing an option that is available to them? If you "NEED" to get our attention, then why not do it by another means, like email? That is why we were required to enter it in the first place... am i wrong? Sure, i would understand the fact that most people enter a fake email (or in my case, old email address that is checked only about once every two weeks), but the moderators should have some type of power to contact the members without banning...

As stated before, the moderator has only a limited amount of tools, no access to your personal information. If you follow the rules (read the occasionally, they change sometimes, have gotten around to it myself), then you have nothing to worry about. It would be nice if the moderator could send out a PM, regardless of your setting, and have the software make you read it when you first login.

24 hours won't kill anybody. It bothered me some, because I had no clue as to why, and I just started my vacation. I have a very curious drive, so it bugged me in that regard, but plenty of other things to do while waiting to find the answers. Fortunately, banishment isn't passed out for every little thing, I trust Nigel's judgement in these matter's.

Marks256 said:

But that is not right. Why should one get banned for 24 hours by simply choosing an option that is available to them? If you "NEED" to get our attention, then why not do it by another means, like email? That is why we were required to enter it in the first place... am i wrong? Sure, i would understand the fact that most people enter a fake email (or in my case, old email address that is checked only about once every two weeks), but the moderators should have some type of power to contact the members without banning...

Click to expand...

Live is rarely fair!

But you need to consider how tiny a 'problem' this is, it's occurred just ONCE so far - most members have PM enabled, and most never need PM'ing (I can't even remember what this particular episode was about now?).

Me thinks you should put a 24hr ban on Marks256 for lipping off to you!
Actially Nigel, what you need is my electronic method of reaching through your monitor to slap the person to get their attention. Pain and swelling is always more effective than a 24hr. ban!

Me thinks you should put a 24hr ban on Marks256 for lipping off to you!

Click to expand...

Don't poke the sleeping bear...

HiTech said:

Actially Nigel, what you need is my electronic method of reaching through your monitor to slap the person to get their attention.

Click to expand...

When I slap people won't play any more!