Flame Warriors ~ View topic

It's happened to everyone at some point.

You find yourself besieged by weekend experts, or as one. It doesn't matter what the line of discussion is, you're all similarly disqualified to discuss it, though no member of any of you will admit it.

And then he or she comes unexpectedly. Before you know it, you're being dragged into an in depth discussion of The Brothers Karamazov with a stranger, who keeps asking you very detailed, very specific questions not only about the novel, but your opinions about it. You worry that they'll realize the closest you've ever coming to reading it was looking it up on wikipedia.

The bane of Weekend Experts everywhere, Verbose is especially irritating for one simple reason: they will usually be quite adamant he is not an expert, and yet his knowledge in a field or subject is very obviously the best in the room.

Whether this is modesty, or Verbose's genuine feelings on the matter is not easy to tell, but a period of close observation often makes it obvious that Verbose is both highly educated and has a genuine love of discussing that, and other intellectually rigorous fields.

This makes his presence in the forum even more of a mystery. Is he trolling you by baiting you into showing your own ignorance at every possible oppertunity? Does he simply not find the concept of others not knowing the subject matter as well as he or she obviously does incomprehensible?

And why do they keep readily admitting what they don't know about without the slightest trace of regret they cannot BS you?

Over time, Verbose can cause many weekend experts to become noticably paranoid, without it even being clear if this is by intention or by accident, and to those who are genuinely interested in the subject matter and learning more in question, verbose quickly finds a warm welcome even while another portion attempts to treat them with gradually inxcreasing hostility.

Verbose' modesty and knowledge both makes challenging his qualifications quite difficult for the weekend expert, as very seldom, if ever will verbose maintain themselves as the authorative expert. Likewise, he typically takes any personal attacks in stride, either readily admitting they could be wrong (though it will soon become obvious they usually aren't) or ignoring them completely.

Driving verbose to anger tends to be quite difficult, but it is not impossible. If enough blindingly obvious ignorance of the subject matter is thrown their way, verbose may implode or voluntarily cease posting for a time.

Regardless, it is very difficult to maneuver verbose into actions that can allow verbose to be justifiably banned, and an unjustifiable ban may cause further dissent in the forum's own political structures.

This warrior is of course, best engaged with caution, though under the right circumstances, does make a powerful ally.
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Lurker Joined: 24 Dec 2010 Posts: 7

I'd call that a Filibuster or Tireless Rebuter who also happens to know a lot about the subject.
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"The only things that are infinite are the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe"
-Alber Einstein

In a society that has abolished all adventures, the only adventure left is to abolish society.

Great suggestion.

Likewise nice suggestion.

I thought there was a suggestion that referred to a warrior who's replies were simply overkill, but this captures the knowledgeable warrior who is maybe indifferent to other warriors short comings or merely happy to play along. It may merely be the product over time of belonging to a forum where they suspect someone being little more than a Weekend Expert.

Having observed at least one forum with a pesky Weekend Expert, I've observed similar sort of behavior in other warriors.

I would say definitely not best described as a Filibuster or Tireless Rebuter.
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The important thing is knowing who owns the fence

As I read I kept thinking, "this has to be a warrior already in the official list, right?", because it sounds like an official warrior. Spot on description, and I found myself remembering a few times I actually played that part, just to fuck with the idiots who thought they knew it all.

It drives them mad because they truly can't figure out if somebody is fucking with them on a high level (I was), or is it a slightly innocent nice person who is just interested in a discussion? (doubtful, but you never know)

Excellent suggestion Ambosen, excellent.
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"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

Blowhard Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 227

^^^ I agree!

Way to contribute Rolling Eyes

I was being sarcastic...

It would have been a good idea.

Lurker Joined: 24 Oct 2010 Posts: 5

aha, this is a great suggestion.