I'm totally confused now...

knifemissle -

You make many good, clarifying points that I had wished to make before I was blinded by indignance and frustration. What indignance and frustration, you ask? The kind that comes with (1) being confused with (or assumed to be) a man for no good reason, and 2) being the target of a gratuitous use of italics and underlining...

[bad cow] took the low road [/bad cow]

...and just so you can't tell me I evaded the issue:

Oops! I must not have conducted a very precise experiment.


EDIT: While I'm at it, there's more insight into my reaction (if you're interested) in this thread.

I don't know why, really, but I have just had a great laugh.. ..the way your worded it, I don't know, it's classic! ;)

You're a good sport!

-SF

Oh yeah, in my defense, I don't think my use of italics and underlines are gratuitous. In case no one has noticed, this is my scheme.

I use italics when introducing a scientific or mathematical word for the first time in a post. This is because, in science, what we're talking about is very specific and, thus, it's extremely important to get your terminology correct. Unlike a poem, there's not supposed to be any room for interpretation. You're supposed to understand, exactly, what I'm saying!
Also, a lot of terms used in mathematics and science have different meanings in their contexts than they do in everyday English. So, I use italics to indicate that I'm using their specific meanings, rather than their everyday ones.

I use underlines for the same reason everyone else does--to emphasise a point. People get confused easily when talking about (often) tricky or subtle ideas. Let's face it, science and math (in particular, math) are very abstract ideas, so to help understanding, I underline key points (usually just words, actually, but sometimes entire sentences!) to facilitate understanding.

I also try to ensure that I use proper grammar and spelling, and that I make good use of paragraphs. I'm very interested to learn if anyone has noticed any of this! Does this help at all or does it just serve to confuse people, like it has (apparently) Supple Cow.

Oh yeah, I also use italics to indicate proper nouns, like people's names, but this is not particular to Tilted Knowledge. I do this on all the forums...

Yes! I love it, actually. V. readable. :thumbsup: