[thepossum]

So please stop being so arrogant and obnoxious to people who post. The culture of the forum and the relaxed clubs are probably one of the most obnoxious and hostile environments I've ever been in involved with.

There is no such thing as easy or obvious to a novice or beginner in any discipline. So those who think there is should not be posting here.

It is not good teaching practice to display arrogance and treat the people you are talking to as ignorant.

I could go on. But some of you look in the mirror and go back to persecuting children or students and back to your advanced forum.

PS I have been checking out the teaching resources and am rather shocked that some of the intermediate and advanced topics are classed as such. They are what beginners try to learn.

Oh, and by the way, having competed against and observed the play of many advanced and even experts on this site they have no right to lecture anybody

[nige1]

Some who post here, welcome constructive criticism. We hope our contributions are deemed instructive. But we are equally keen to learn,

[eagles123]

thepossum, on 2018-November-05, 23:47, said:

So please stop being so arrogant and obnoxious to people who post. The culture of the forum and the relaxed clubs are probably one of the most obnoxious and hostile environments I've ever been in involved with.

There is no such thing as easy or obvious to a novice or beginner in any discipline. So those who think there is should not be posting here.

It is not good teaching practice to display arrogance and treat the people you are talking to as ignorant.

I could go on. But some of you look in the mirror and go back to persecuting children or students and back to your advanced forum.

PS I have been checking out the teaching resources and am rather shocked that some of the intermediate and advanced topics are classed as such. They are what beginners try to learn.

Oh, and by the way, having competed against and observed the play of many advanced and even experts on this site they have no right to lecture anybody

I used to post in the N/B forum a lot back in the day and never seemed to have this problem!! I wonder why??

I think the "3N isn't right and no one will persuade me otherwise" (can't remember exact title) was the only one i've replied to. If you had a more sensible topic title, such as "5D or 3N, did I make the right bid?" or some such, and displayed a better attitude then for sure I would give a more polite reply!!

[The_Badger]

Play for fun. Usually play your system. 2/1, Acol, or SAYC. NT usually strong but also weak/variable. Fairly standard extras, wk/st 2s. Any Blackwood, tfr, spl, smol, St lds/ card. Prefer to bid my cards rather than miss a contract

The last thing I would want to do to any beginner or novice on this forum is to criticise, but the above is from your own profile on BBO, and I am sure that the majority, if not all, of my co-commentators would agree that it is hardly the profile of someone who has just begun to learn this game.

All of us give our time and knowledge on this forum for free, and when I learnt the game many moons ago (from books only) I was not afforded the 'luxury' of bespoke opinions on virtually any bridge subject from a learned bunch of bridge agony aunts and uncles as that inhabit these BBO pages.

Instead of battling us, be grateful to learn from us: accept the constructive criticism (for the most part) that comes your way. I accept that I can sometimes get things wrong on here myself, and I have learned to accept my fair share of constructive criticism from my fellow commentators. That's life.

[pescetom]

thepossum, on 2018-November-05, 23:47, said:

So please stop being so arrogant and obnoxious to people who post. The culture of the forum and the relaxed clubs are probably one of the most obnoxious and hostile environments I've ever been in involved with.

In the last month you've pretty much monopolised this forum, but five others (didpog51, oB_Bo, bravejason, r8864, cencio) did pose beginners and novices questions. Reading them through, I see a lot of good and friendly advice given and just one message that might be construed as condescending (but was almost certainly just a sincere attempt to make a joke). One of the questions was almost incomprehensible, but everyone encouraged the poster all the same. The other posters all seem content with the advice they received.

Outside of the beginners and novices forum, I've witnessed occasional episodes of hostility and haughtiness here, although usually when somebody (me included) did or said something inappropriate. But nothing terrible, internet communities are self-policing and that's the way most of us want it. And reading between the lines, many of the people are likeable and all have something to say.

[akwoo]

There is a big difference between teaching beginners - people who don't have much experience - and the untalented - people who need everything explained to them several times because they have trouble understanding and remembering explanations. (EDIT: To clarify, I mean 'untalented at bridge' - someone can of course be quick at learning certain things but slow at learning others.)

This forum does a good job with talented beginners but doesn't do a good job with the untalented (of any experience level).

(Frankly, if I'm going to take the trouble to figure out how to explain things to the untalented, I at least want to be paid for it.)

[helene_t]

This forum is friendly to those of us who have earned membership of the gang. It is less friendly to newcomers. There have been several who have been bullied out for no obvious reason and I sometimes wonder if the reason could be a need to bully someone as a way to cope with frustrations with life in general.

Of course, it is frustrating if someone asks a question, you put some effort into writing an answer, only to get it dismissed because the asker apparently was looking for a particular answer. I stopped answering questions about evolutionary biology from certain people for the same reason.

But, if you don't like the attitude of OP, you just ignore. Engaging in flame wars makes everyone feel bad and makes everyone look stupid. Including yourself.

It has been a bit amusing to see thepossum get the advice that playing against GIB isn't real bridge, and then get the advice to solve an easy unblock problem by abusing the claim button. And to be told that he is too advanced to call himself a beginner and also be told that he is not advanced enough to call himself intermediate.

thepossum, I will give you one piece of advice. If you want to stimulate constructive responses to your post then you should thank those posters who do so, and/or upvote their responses. If you don't then people might, rightly or wrongly, get the impression that their responses are not being read.

[FelicityR]

akwoo, on 2018-November-06, 16:19, said:

There is a big difference between teaching beginners - people who don't have much experience - and the untalented - people who need everything explained to them several times because they have trouble understanding and remembering explanations.

This forum does a good job with talented beginners but doesn't do a good job with the untalented (of any experience level).

(Frankly, if I'm going to take the trouble to figure out how to explain things to the untalented, I at least want to be paid for it.)

I have spent plenty of time trying to teach various members of my extended, talented family bridge - a few with science degrees and the like - but either you have a bent for playing cards or not. I have one son who is exceptionally good, a non-gambler: the other goes to the casino, plays poker, bets and studies horse-racing, football, etc, and wins, and still grapples with the fundamental elements of the game. Work that out.

[HardVector]

I dislike general assertions. Next time, try to use some specifics.