Comments on: authority on the internet

By: li'l leather da

li'l leather da — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:38:34 +0000

Usually an authority on a topic is someone who has done formal research and published it. You might consider (in your infinite spare time) taking a grad course to see what that feels like; it gives you an idea of how little we know, how difficult designing an unbiased experiment is, and also a critical eye for what you've read (improves the old BS meter!)

That being said, research starts with being fascinated about a subject; so keep it up!

But beware the title "authority". Once you've become an "expert", how can you learn anything new?

By: Essin' Em

Essin' Em — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:03:59 +0000

I totally had a "free open diary" until they had some outage, and deleted half of my journal, so I went to livejournal, which is still where I write my private and personal stuff.

I agree with Lady Brett Ashley. I trust you, I've met you, I've talked with you; for the most part, you are who you say you are, and more, and you know your stuff. However, occasionally you say things I disagree with, and have no qualms in (hopefully you find it) respectfully voicing my dissent.

And I agree with this post. One more reason I need a new banner, because I really don't like the term sexpert. When I worked for HMFH, they used it to refer to me…hence it being on my banner. But really, can one ever really be an expert in something like sex? Yeah, not so much.

I hope you don't think I'm too full of hot air. If you do, feel free to pop me (and I meant that in a totally non-perveted sense).

By: alisha

alisha — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:27:46 +0000

it's just crazy because that's the site I use and have used since I was 17 and first coming out and no one EVER knows of OD.

By: alisha

alisha — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:21:34 +0000

you said "open diaries".. did you actually ever use opendiary.com?

[Yep, that's what I meant. I had a couple of them, but they were short-lived because about the same time I started having my own hosts and domains and I preferred to have more control over the design and layout. - ss]

By: what happened in June

what happened in June — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:13:55 +0000

[...] authority on the internet, a little bit about my own authority, where I’m coming from, what my credentials are [...]

By: Lesbian stereotypes, reclaiming language, and activism

Lesbian stereotypes, reclaiming language, and activism — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:01:21 +0000

[...] Et Cetera var sc_project=3338235; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_partition=36; var sc_security=”b5e0127e”; var sc_text=2; since Jan 08. Enter your email address to get Sugarbutch delivered to your email inbox Subscribe via RSS Sugarbutch comments via RSS ← authority on the internet [...]

By: linaria

linaria — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:00:58 +0000

a related thought:

at my place of employment, there is a great deal of discussion about the concept of 'information literacy,' which is kind of a catch-all phrase but basically refers to students' ability to assess their own need for information, critically evaluate sources, and appropriately utilize information. it's a skill set that's being formally taught in academia, but it's a good way to think about the rest of life as well. I think a lot of these difficulties (of the kind that must have inspired this post) could be resolved if people learned to recognize their own assumptions when gathering information, evaluate the bias of their various sources, and accept that some ideas are too subjective to be labeled as "true" or "false."

[It seems to be extraordinarily difficult to teach people how to learn to think for themselves, to teach them how to learn, how to seek out information. I'm definitely curious about that. I like that term, 'information literacy,' thanks for that comment. - ss]

By: lady brett

lady brett — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:05:10 +0000

hehe, i like the gender buddha. especially "This is me, doing this work… now, you go do yours."

but i have to (respectfully) disagree with some of what you imply about trust. because i do trust you (and have often been told i trust "too" easily), but i don't feel that has any negative effect on my ability to question you. it simply means that i trust you to be honest and true and good and those other totally subjective, personal things. none of that means you're always right, or more to my way of thinking, that what's right for you is the same as what's right for me.

but it is a great place to start figuring out the latter (because i trust, also, that you have been studying this longer and more deeply than i have =)

[Good point about trust - that trusting someone doesn't necessarily mean that you don't question them. - ss]

By: Bad Bad Girl

Bad Bad Girl — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:08:33 +0000

I tend to consider you an authority on topics I don’t know, and you speak so well of- but I do understand your points made. I try to write things in relation top my understanding of them, and simply leave them out if I don’t understand. I think I personally would learn more if I asked more questions.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:05:51 +0000

And on a completely unrelated note, somehow I’ve managed to MISS the top nav on your site until now. Imagine my confusion when “submission” wasn’t what I hoped it might be…