Earlier: "...When someone presents a
novel point, or a new way of presenting
an argument, I feel enriched, even when
I disagree..."
Yes, yes! You've got it!
Earlier: "...When someone presents the
same argument making the same point
in the same way, I feel robbed of the
time it took me to read it..."
Ummm ... why are you wasting YOUR time on it, then?
I think we all have different skimming and filtering skills when
we read, and we each want more or less help from others to compensate.
Me? I would like each of us to set examples of what they would
prefer in a post.
Earlier: "...Come on, people, we
can do better than this..."
Yes. Set an example! We can do it! However, I do not expect
anyone to filter for me (other than spam and extended off-topic posts -
and I'm certainly not going to get mad even if they miss that, oops,
just clean it up afterwards).
Earlier: "...There are times this sad
state of affairs makes it seem worth
throwing in the towel on three years
of work and taking up carpentry,
just to get away from the sheer
navel-gazing futility of it all..."
Yes - it's called a vacation. Perhaps we all could use a bit of
off-line hammering on inanimate objects, cutting things into little
pieces, maybe even making something functional and beautiful, or even
just beautiful, all on our own. I LOVE the sheer power and
effectiveness of working on my own.
However, I ain't building Wikipedia on my own, and it ain't
gonna get built and be worth much without ALL of it's community intact.
Great discussion, everyone - I see many people have awoken and
joined in. I always find that it's easier to deal with energy, and
steer it, to get things done, than to spend even more energy just waking
people up, and then being too exhausted and or lethargic to actually do
anything!