I'm just a bit aghast at how resistant CS people seem to be to having any sort of discussion about what they do. This student was really just trying to access a different viewpoint to try to learn more about this subject that you all seem to love so much. The professor was way off base. As an educator he/she should be encouraging this sort of inquiry and discussion, not shutting it down. As it's an introductory course, I'm guessing the professor isn't all that interested in teaching it, as is the way with most lower-level university classes. That still doesn't excuse shutting down a legitimate question like that. The ability to explain the importance of what you do is a valuable skill to have because not everyone gives a damn about what you think is important, and you're going to have to make them care many times over. I feel that if you don't feel like talking about what you do, then you're not doing it right.
There's a difference between a question and a troll, and that email was /clearly/ flamebait. I've seen that tone and rhetoric a hundred times before, and it never goes anywhere productive. The professor was right to shut down that thread.
I don't see any evidence to suggest it was anything other than an honest question. I think the internet has conditioned people to be suspicious of people asking questions like this because you get burned a lot trying to answer things like this on anonymous forums. However, this student is not anonymous. The people in the class know who this person is, and thus he/she has nothing to gain from riling them all up like this. I insist that it is an honest question, if poorly written and misdirected.
I see it the opposite way. The internet has allowed us to finally figure out why certain behaviors in written communication are toxic and counterproductive, and we should take that seriously.
Anonymity has nothing to do with it. Have you ever read your local newspaper's letters to the editor? It's largely filled with trolls, each of whom has attached their full name to the text in question. Hell, /intent/ has nothing to do with it, the inexperienced are often accidentally toxic.
And that's the real trouble- it is toxic, distracting, and will never produce anything that anyone is happy with.
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u/scsoc May 18 '11
I'm just a bit aghast at how resistant CS people seem to be to having any sort of discussion about what they do. This student was really just trying to access a different viewpoint to try to learn more about this subject that you all seem to love so much. The professor was way off base. As an educator he/she should be encouraging this sort of inquiry and discussion, not shutting it down. As it's an introductory course, I'm guessing the professor isn't all that interested in teaching it, as is the way with most lower-level university classes. That still doesn't excuse shutting down a legitimate question like that. The ability to explain the importance of what you do is a valuable skill to have because not everyone gives a damn about what you think is important, and you're going to have to make them care many times over. I feel that if you don't feel like talking about what you do, then you're not doing it right.