tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? ))

Scott Morrison comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19464)

2012-07-02T16:32:00-07:00

Okay, let's close this thread now, it has surely run its course.

Zeeshan Mahmud comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19463)

2012-07-02T16:25:32-07:00

@grp

My intention was not be facetious or offer churlish comment. It was a mere observation. But yes it was off topic.

grp comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19462)

2012-07-02T13:43:53-07:00

There is a balance between being welcoming and very tolerant and mindful of others on the one hand, and beimg focussed on a goal, cohesive, and getting a community together to promote such. Meaning no disrespect Zeeshan or Shanmukha, their diversion is not appropriate for this forum, and bears an unfortunate resemblance to something that demonstrably caused problems for this community.

I used to use sci.math when the spam level and crank level and irrelevance level were within tolerable limits. I don't use sci.math now. I am convinced that only through vigilance and determined action can one keep meta.mathoverflow and MathOverflow from going down a similar path.

I think Shanmukha deserves an opportunity to reply to Zeeshan's comment, who has a certain right to express himself. However I find both such inappropriate for MathOverflow and also for meta.mathoverflow, and ask that any continuation be posted by email or on a completely different forum.

I also request this thread be closed.

Gerhard Paseman, 2012.07.02

Angelo comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19461)

2012-07-02T13:34:00-07:00

To Steven Gubkin: India is a very large country. Furthermore, I know a lot of Indian mathematicians, but none who would talk like Shanmukha, or trustgod.

Steven Gubkin comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19460)

2012-07-02T13:08:56-07:00

Does anyone here have any experience with Indian culture, and in particular, Indian mathematical culture? Shanmukha and trustgod seem very similar, but it seems they are not the same person. Is there a larger societal pattern at work here? By treating people who fall into that pattern rudely, or saying that their behavior is unacceptable on a "scholarly mathematics site" are we actually making the mathematicians of India unwelcome? I have never met anyone from India, so I can't say for sure. In my opinion, it is worth some thought.

Will Jagy comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19459)

2012-07-02T12:05:08-07:00

Asaf, yes. I request that this thread be closed.

Asaf Karagila comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19458)

2012-07-02T10:24:22-07:00

I am going to ask you to stop that discussion about gods and religions at this point. Such talk is no good for a mathematical site, and will inadvertently offend someone in one way or another.

Shanmukha comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19456)

2012-07-02T02:33:00-07:00

@Zeeshan Mahmud : Good, It does mean ( Six-faced ). Chuckle ?. I hope you didn't know the background properly. "Nothing in the heavens or on earth can induce weakness or impotence in God; indeed, God is all-knowing and all-powerful." (35:44) is said in Quran, I hope its your religious guide. So in the same way, Vedantists, give a form to God, imposing that he is all powerful , showing him with infinite hands and infinite powers. In the same way, he is picturized in the form of six-heads. The six heads represent the six rays or the six attributes viz. Jnana (wisdom), Vairagya (dispassion), Bala (strength), Kirti (fame), Sree (wealth) and Aishvarya (divine powers).

For more information see this. As a mathematician you should appreciate if some one gives an example or analogue of enigmatic thing which makes understanding more simpler. We cant always talk about the omnipresence of God, without giving simple examples for his existence. Speaking about Naive God, doesn't help all in understanding his presence. As said, one should be a child to teach the child mathematics, a child doesn't understand complex mathematics. We need to get down to his level and teach him . The same thing is done here. So being humans, thinkers of past centuries tried to picturize the omnipresent in the form of man, but with more attributes ( showing that he is greater and powerful than mortals ) .

So chuckling just shows ignorance and foolishness, one shouldn't chuckle at the things which they don't know. If that is the case, one should chuckle for all the life, as there are many mysteries that we don't know. One should in fact try to know the history or contact some scholar to get its proper meaning.

I hope its clear. Thank you for your welcome.

Zeeshan Mahmud comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19454)

2012-07-02T01:16:09-07:00

Pardon my penchant for Sanksrit etymology of names, but I cannot help but chuckle at meaning of "Sanmukha" (six-faced). Well, warm welcome!

Shanmukha comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19447)

2012-06-28T01:26:17-07:00

Yes, I saw that. Thank you David. Really 6800 is hard to earn here !!. I agree that.

DavidRoberts comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19446)

2012-06-28T00:45:14-07:00

@Shanmukha,

if you are wondering about users with obvious pseudonyms, click on them and see their page. quid (http://mathoverflow.net/users/9072/quid) has over 6800 reputation, which is hard-earned, so you can rest assured she/he is using the site properly.

Shanmukha comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19444)

2012-06-28T00:29:33-07:00

Dear Scott,

Oh, is that the case?. Ok , no problem. In this world of spam, its common to suspect anyone, regardless of their background. I think I made a mistake calling "quid" a spam. I now confirmed that MO doesn't has that spam kind of things.

Thanks for your Warm Welcome, Scott !!. You can now end/close this discussion as I got a good reply.

Scott Morrison comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19427)

2012-06-27T12:20:28-07:00

Dear Shanmukha,

there has been a previous user here (variously under the names "Trust God" and "Iyengar") who we had some considerable trouble with. After they managed to annoy and frustrate many users of the site, by amongst other things posting under multiple pseudonyms, many people have become suspicious of new users with a particular set of mathematical interests and linguisitic quirks. Your post aroused these suspicions. I am fairly confident that these suspicions were in this case mistaken, and so I'd like to apologize if you were offended by the unusual welcome. Quid's initial comment was not really directed towards you, but as an alert to others that your account might be a new incarnation of this user.

best regards (and welcome to MathOverflow), Scott Morrison

Ben Webster comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19426)

2012-06-27T12:18:45-07:00

Uh, no, the whole point was that he thought you were not using your real name, and had posted under a different name previously..

Shanmukha comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19425)

2012-06-27T10:51:44-07:00

Oh is it the case ? . I apologize if he is not a spam. But the user search has not lead me to some one who is named " Shanmukha_Srinivasan ", to think that the confusion might have occurred due to redundant names.

Ben Webster comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19424)

2012-06-27T10:36:39-07:00

Shanmukha-

I have no idea why you think your account was hacked. quid was obliquely suggesting that he thinks you are a previous user of the website (with similar interests and linguistic quirks to those suggested by your question) who has returned using a different handle. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but it has zero to do with spam.

Shanmukha comments on "A Strange welcome observed ( Is it spam ? )" (19423)

2012-06-27T09:55:55-07:00

I have joined MO yesterday. As soon as I have joined MO, I read the guidelines and accordingly posted this question. As soon as I have posted the question, I received a strange comment from someone called "quid". He seems that he has met me here and then there was initially 1-mark besides his comment ( Later on I came to know that its called " Upvote" ).

As the days passed , the up-votes increased and now the count turned to be 8. I then started worrying that my account has been hacked or there is some spam message. I generally receive such sort of spam messages in yahoo, where some unknown person claims that he knows me and then speaks as if he has seen me. Later on he posts some advertisement related to his company. Moreover evidently quid doesn't has kept any details on his member page.

I hope "quid" is not of that sort. Can I take it for granted. Can I hope for a moderator to step-in into this issue and settle it ?.

Thank you. I hope my account is safe.