Fred Bauder wrote:
Unless I have gotten the personalities mixed up, Stan is himself an certified expert employed in an academic setting, which is one reason he can make such an incisive comment about Larry.
Indeed I think this is a general feature. I was a lot more deferent towards experts before I went into academia---once you find out how the sausage is made, and even occasionally get deferred to yourself in an area where you know your word has no business being accepted unquestioningly, it's hard to view it in as idealized a fashion. I'd say most of the academics I know on Wikipedia are *less* deferent towards credentials than most of the non-academics are (with some exceptions).
-Mark