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Re: dereference

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On 08/27/2012 01:38 PM, Adrian Ratnapala wrote:
> 
>> Bill is not a newbie. He's very carefully (some would say suspiciously) 
>> maintained exactly his current nearly-complete lack of understanding of
> 
> Well I have only been hear about a week, so I am the newbie.
> 
> 
>> C despite having asked frequently asked questions about it for more than
>> a decade, and having received large quantities of helpful answers to
>> those questions. The only way he could be considered sharp is if he's
>> faking his ignorance, which is in fact what many people think he's
> 
> Well, I am starting to share this suspicion; I think his questions are genuinely sharp; which makes him look like some kind of white-hat troll trying to increase the educational value of this list.
> 
>> doing. I'd like to apply Hanlon's Razor to him, but it's been a long
>> time since I felt comfortable doing so.
> 
> Well I suppose the "white-hat" thing might excuse him from "malice".

I've seen nothing to suggest he deserves a "white-hat" designation. His
questions generally reflect a great deal of confusion about the C
language, without being worded in such a way as to shed light on those
points of confusion. The malicious interpretation of his actions is
based upon the assumption that he enjoys seeing people waste their time
trying to explain things to him. He responds with comments saying that
he finally understands, but in those very same messages he says things
making it clear that he does not (except possibly in the negative sense
that he does understand, and deliberately writes his response to suggest
that he does not).

In the past, he's claimed to have a medical condition that requires him
to take drugs which have the side-effect of making it impossible for him
to learn anything. This is the only non-malicious interpretation I've
ever seen for his actions that makes any sense. In that case, it's a
waste of his time to try to learn anything as complicated as C, and it's
a waste of everyone else's time to try to teach it to him. However, by
the same token he's also incapable of learning that it's a waste of his
time (to be fair, some of the people who've been trying to help him seem
equally incapable of learning it). It all holds together logically, but
I've been finding it increasingly difficult to believe.

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dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-20 18:04 -0400
  Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-20 15:30 -0700
    Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-20 18:37 -0400
      Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-20 18:43 -0700
      Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-22 14:42 -0400
        Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-22 12:10 -0700
          Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-22 17:38 -0400
    Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-20 21:09 -0400
      Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-20 18:46 -0700
        Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-21 16:15 -0400
        Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-21 16:26 -0400
      Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-22 14:49 -0400
        Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-22 18:10 -0400
          Re: dereference Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2012-08-22 17:36 -0700
            Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-22 20:50 -0400
              Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-22 17:54 -0700
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-22 21:23 -0400
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-22 21:26 -0400
                Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-23 12:55 -0400
                Re: dereference Mark Bluemel <mark_bluemel@pobox.com> - 2012-08-24 08:05 +0100
                Re: dereference Hans Vlems <hvlems@freenet.de> - 2012-08-24 03:00 -0700
                Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-24 13:31 -0400
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-24 17:20 -0400
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-24 19:36 -0400
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-24 20:42 -0700
                Re: dereference Hans Vlems <hvlems@freenet.de> - 2012-08-27 00:11 -0700
                Re: dereference Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-08-27 02:01 -0700
                Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-27 03:24 -0700
                Re: dereference Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2012-08-24 21:44 -0700
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-25 09:46 -0400
                Re: dereference Vincenzo Mercuri <vincenzo.mercuri@yahoo.it> - 2012-08-25 16:22 +0200
                Re: dereference Vincenzo Mercuri <vincenzo.mercuri@yahoo.it> - 2012-08-25 16:33 +0200
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-25 08:07 -0700
                Re: dereference Vincenzo Mercuri <vincenzo.mercuri@yahoo.it> - 2012-08-25 17:55 +0200
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-25 10:58 -0700
                Re: dereference Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2012-08-25 20:39 +0000
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-26 14:49 -0700
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-25 18:36 -0400
                Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-25 16:42 -0700
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-25 20:19 -0400
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-26 14:40 -0700
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-26 14:46 -0700
                Re: dereference Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-08-27 02:11 -0700
                Re: dereference James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-08-27 08:36 -0400
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-27 10:38 -0700
                Re: dereference James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-08-27 13:55 -0400
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-27 12:57 -0700
                Re: dereference James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2012-08-27 16:25 -0400
                Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-29 10:41 -0400
                Re: dereference Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-08-27 02:09 -0700
                Re: dereference Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2012-08-25 12:16 -0700
                Re: dereference Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-08-25 16:40 -0700
                Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-25 21:21 -0400
                Re: dereference Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2012-08-25 21:48 -0700
                Re: dereference Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2012-08-25 13:08 -0500
                Re: dereference Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-08-27 02:02 -0700
                Re: dereference Andrew Cooper <amc96@cam.ac.uk> - 2012-08-25 02:53 +0100
                Re: dereference Hans Vlems <hvlems@freenet.de> - 2012-08-27 00:10 -0700
                Re: dereference Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-08-27 02:14 -0700
                Re: dereference Adrian Ratnapala <adrian.ratnapala@gmail.com> - 2012-08-27 10:34 -0700
                Re: dereference Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2012-08-29 10:22 -0400
  Re: dereference Les Cargill <lcargill99@comcast.com> - 2012-08-20 17:38 -0500
    Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-20 18:41 -0400
  Re: dereference "christian.bau" <christian.bau@cbau.wanadoo.co.uk> - 2012-08-20 16:43 -0700
    Re: dereference Mark Bluemel <mark_bluemel@pobox.com> - 2012-08-21 09:22 +0100
    Re: dereference "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2012-08-21 16:12 -0400

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