> I was doing some research on some number-theory-type stuff. I asked a question here. A Cambridge PhD gave me some pointers. Gave them to me, a random nobody o

> I was doing some research on some number-theory-type stuff. I asked a question here. A Cambridge PhD gave me some pointers. Gave them to me, a random nobody on the internet with a BS, no affiliation, and no academic work for the last 35 years.) This. HN reminds me how the Internet was 20+ years ago when I was growing up on it, and where random anons would provide this kind of experience for no other reason that just to do it. > It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes you get ideological wars. Sometimes you get people who Just. Won't. Listen. - who are, on that topic anyway, just going to argue their position to the end of the earth with scorched-earth tactics. Sometimes people come here to do ideological battle rather than to have an actual conversation. That happens here more often than I'd like. But it's still better than anywhere else that I've found. Agreed. But that is also part of the allure; zealots often reveal more about ourselves, particularly how we engage in discourse with others, than we'd like to admit and opportunities to learn from these experiences.