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General comment about BGO etiquette

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Wednesday, 9 June 2010, at 8:49 p.m.

In Response To: Nack vs Grandell (Casper van der Tak)

I know that this is not so clear cut because I've spent some time studying this issue, ever since I was surprised by a discussion of a similar problem in Trice's Backgammon Boot Camp. I might have chosen the wrong play but I am sure that gammon prices and so forth are relevant here.

I have to say that I am somewhat disturbed at the tone of the reactions I got to my post. I am pretty thick-skinned, so I am not going to be intimidated when, as is common in competitive sports and games, someone tries to put me in what they believe to be my proper place in the pecking order. However, I'm a little concerned about what kind of atmosphere this creates on BGO. I believe that there are readers here who are not top-notch in general but have studied limited aspects of the game in detail and have something to teach even the best players. I would like to learn from them, but unless they are as thick-skinned as I am, I doubt that they will post. They will see what kind of reception I get when I try to share what I know, and will see no point in sharing their knowledge if people are not going to be open to learning something from someone who is unknown.

Now, I realize that I can be obnoxious myself sometimes, and deserve to be put in my place. But honestly, it doesn't seem to me that I was obnoxious here. Petter wanted to know what the relevant factors were in this decision. I knew some of the relevant factors and knew that it was complicated, and noticed that even the very strong players here were not stating those reasons. Then I tried to explain what I understood about these kinds of positions. Did I do so in an offensive way? It doesn't seem to me that I did.

I wouldn't bother making this statement if it were the only time this happened. However, there have been other times when I have presented ideas that I knew to be correct (mostly because they had a strong mathematical or statistical flavor, and there I know I am on firm ground), and the reception I got didn't reflect the intrinsic merit of the ideas but rather my social status. Again, I don't care about any of this for my own sake because I'm going to continue postwhoring anyway, but people who want to make this a welcoming forum should be aware of these kinds of subconscious attitudes that can discourage those not in the "in group."

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