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I guess ham radio enthusiasts are easily offended when you ask them practical questions that they don't have a good answer to.

QuesnayJr 7y ago
So, I don't care about ham radio at all, but I can imagine that if you do something for fun that it's grating to have people ask you over and over again "What is it good for?" What is anything good for? What is flying kites good for? What are walks on the beach, or sunsets good for, or any of the other purposeless activities that people engage in? It's fun to do something that nobody has done before. Even though I don't care about the actual goal, it's interesting to read about what the obstacles are, and how people overcame them.
- BenjiWiebe 7y ago
  And to add to this, if it's a technical/experimental thing you're doing, you never know; you might discover/learn something useful.
- supernova87a 7y ago
  Well, that's a legit point. And I won't pursue this topic much longer (tiring to talk meta about threads). But equally, if someone is sensitive about being asked what's it good for, then maybe don't seek worldwide attention for it on the front page and get offended when the world asks you such questions.
catblast 7y ago
Do you think a generalization like this is in any way constructive? Also I don’t see any reply that I thought demonstrated “offense”. Perhaps it was deleted.
- supernova87a 7y ago
  I was just reacting to my post with a legitimate question being severely downvoted. And I do think a question about whether something is useful is a legitimate question, whether the answer is yes or no. Some people must be offended, based on being downvoted -- but who knows when there's 1000s of users. You can't waste your time being offended on the internet by random signal-to-noise. It's boring to meta-debate the quality of discussion / people's voting on a story or comment, so I won't pursue it much more here. But if something doesn't have a known practical value then let's talk about what its value is, or could be. Don't just vote someone down because you're offended that your pursuit / hobby was questioned. This feels like its a "street car mods", "CPU overclocking", or even "distance running" kind of hobby. Part ego, part technical, part seeing how far you can push something. Sometimes these things have use (to you, or others), sometimes not.

QuesnayJr 7y ago

So, I don't care about ham radio at all, but I can imagine that if you do something for fun that it's grating to have people ask you over and over again "What is it good for?" What is anything good for? What is flying kites good for? What are walks on the beach, or sunsets good for, or any of the other purposeless activities that people engage in? It's fun to do something that nobody has done before. Even though I don't care about the actual goal, it's interesting to read about what the obstacles are, and how people overcame them.

BenjiWiebe 7y ago
And to add to this, if it's a technical/experimental thing you're doing, you never know; you might discover/learn something useful.
supernova87a 7y ago
Well, that's a legit point. And I won't pursue this topic much longer (tiring to talk meta about threads). But equally, if someone is sensitive about being asked what's it good for, then maybe don't seek worldwide attention for it on the front page and get offended when the world asks you such questions.

catblast 7y ago

Do you think a generalization like this is in any way constructive? Also I don’t see any reply that I thought demonstrated “offense”. Perhaps it was deleted.

supernova87a 7y ago
I was just reacting to my post with a legitimate question being severely downvoted. And I do think a question about whether something is useful is a legitimate question, whether the answer is yes or no. Some people must be offended, based on being downvoted -- but who knows when there's 1000s of users. You can't waste your time being offended on the internet by random signal-to-noise. It's boring to meta-debate the quality of discussion / people's voting on a story or comment, so I won't pursue it much more here. But if something doesn't have a known practical value then let's talk about what its value is, or could be. Don't just vote someone down because you're offended that your pursuit / hobby was questioned. This feels like its a "street car mods", "CPU overclocking", or even "distance running" kind of hobby. Part ego, part technical, part seeing how far you can push something. Sometimes these things have use (to you, or others), sometimes not.