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Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:44 am
by quizivex
Hi,

Just wanted to let my cyberfriends know that I'm retiring from this forum either until March 15 or until I hear some unexpected wonderful news... I've noticed over the past few months that I'm simply incapable of being honest and open without angering other people. Since the application process is over and so is everything I helplessly tried to do in my undergrad career to prepare for it, conversing on the forum cannot directly benefit me anymore. While I still enjoy the camaraderie, the insightful discussions about grad school stuff and the humorous off topic rants, I am tired of feeling the need to concoct elaborate justifications for ideas I think are either obvious or at least reasonable to the extent that they shouldn't be shot down. I'll probably be back eventually, but in this leave of absense you won't need to make a poll about where I'm hiding...

Regards,
Quizivex

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:52 am
by dlenmn
Well, the forum will be significantly less entertaining. Best of luck!

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:17 am
by twistor
I've noticed over the past few months that I'm simply incapable of being honest and open without angering other people.
Don't let the PC nutballs win again. Everyone is entitled to express themselves even if others don't agree with them.
While I still enjoy the camaraderie, the insightful discussions about grad school stuff and the humorous off topic rants, I am tired of feeling the need to concoct elaborate justifications for ideas I think are either obvious or at least reasonable to the extent that they shouldn't be shot down. I'll probably be back eventually, but in this leave of absense you won't need to make a poll about where I'm hiding...
I can only assume you are referring to people who like to complain about the grade of humor on this site (e.g. 400nm). I understand where you're coming from. But those people come and go. Once admissions are over with they will be long gone and this forum will go back to being a cold, dead place for the next 6 months until there is a new GRE and people want advice or admissions starts again and international students want us to google schools for them.

On that note, if you choose not to come back I think many us will completely understand your frustration.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:42 am
by 400nm
twistor wrote: I can only assume you are referring to people who like to complain about the grade of humor on this site (e.g. 400nm).
I don't understand why you think what RG said to me was funny. If you're going to post offensive comments, people will be offended. There hasn't been any true censorship yet (completely deleting comments), just people getting upset about what you wrote. That will happen anywhere you go. Having "freedom" of speech does not mean you can say whatever you want and expect everyone else to just shut up. You have to accept responsibility for what you say (especially because this is not truly an anonymous forum) and deal with the consequences.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:55 pm
by grae313
400nm wrote:I don't understand why you think what RG said to me was funny. If you're going to post offensive comments, people will be offended. There hasn't been any true censorship yet (completely deleting comments), just people getting upset about what you wrote. That will happen anywhere you go. Having "freedom" of speech does not mean you can say whatever you want and expect everyone else to just shut up. You have to accept responsibility for what you say (especially because this is not truly an anonymous forum) and deal with the consequences.
Quiz never expected anyone else to just shut up. He made statements that really weren't that offensive, saying that he was tired of the environment that he was in and really wanted to be in a top five school. Other people tried to tell him to shut up.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:35 pm
by 400nm
grae, twistor implied that quiz left because of my comments. So I was responding to that. If I was wrong, then I take that part back.

All I'm saying is that you can't have it both ways. It sounds like you want to post offensive/hateful comments, but people shouldn't be allowed to respond and say they're offended.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:11 pm
by twistor
400nm: You were a convenient example because I couldn't remember any of the other people that were offended.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:27 am
by fermiboy
I think quiz left because of my response to a post of his in the "MIT" thread. I told him no hard feelings but I guess there might be some. It just made me mad that he's scared that he will "only" get into Columbia, while I would love to get admitted to a school of that caliber. He asked me to delete my post and I refused. So Quiz, if you read this, I'm sorry that my remark made you uncomfortable, please come back. You are one of the best members of this forum.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:27 am
by doom
I'm sorry to see quiz go. I would hope that my little problem with one of his posts (which kinda blew up beyond what i expected) didn't help drive him off, but maybe it did.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:14 am
by twistor
I think quiz left because of my response to a post of his in the "MIT" thread. I told him no hard feelings but I guess there might be some. It just made me mad that he's scared that he will "only" get into Columbia, while I would love to get admitted to a school of that caliber.
He's a domestic student with a 990. I honestly doubt he has any serious competition. He'll get in other places and if they don't let him in it's their loss.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:29 pm
by dlenmn
I think part of quiz's complaint about the school he got in to was that -- while it did have a good reputation -- it didn't really do research in the area he is interested in (I think he said something to that effect in a post somewhere, but I'm not going to try to track it down right now). Also, some people seem to be really certain about what school he got in to. He never said what school it was -- don't jump to conclusions.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:51 pm
by fermiboy
I had thought that he confirmed it was Columbia. Maybe not. In any case, I did not intend for my post to be part of the cause for him leaving the forum. Sorry Quiz, please come back.

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:05 pm
by dlenmn
Looking through old posts, he actually confirmed the exact opposite -- he didn't apply to Columbia.

You weren't the cause for him leaving -- he says those were the many arguments he caused. The last disagreement he had (which is the one you refer to) wasn't even much of a disagreement. Someone had to have the last argument, and it just happened to be you.

At any rate, from his post, it sounds like he'll be back before this whole grad school ordeal is over. No need for a 1000 year wait...

Re: Quizivex on Sabbatical

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:16 am
by jdhooghe
Even though we didn't know each other, I am sad to see you go. I can see your frustrations though. You want the best and you worked hard for it. You don't need other people to tell you that you should settle for anything less than what you expect, the best. I cannot tell you how great it is to converse with fellow physics majors outside my department. Although this forum will die after awhile, I am thankful for all the laughs you guys/gals will give me until that time.