Alan Moorman wrote:
> On 13 Feb 2007 11:29:59 GMT, Chris Malcolm
> > wrote:
>
>>In alt.support.diabetes Alan Moorman >
wrote:
>>
>>> Sorry, Larry, but anyone who posts in a public forum
needs
>>> to go to some pains to explain their scientific language
in
>>> terms more of us can understand.
>>
>>> I'm smart, educated, and have a large vocabulary, but
>>> several paragraphs of dense scientific terminology
doesn't
>>> help me, or any other posters, understand what is being
>>> talked about.
>>
>>*Any* other posters?
>>
>>I assume firstly that at least a large minority of the
population has
>>an educational background in the sciences rather than the
arts, and
>>secondly that most of those reading asd have the largest
and most
>>easily accessible encyclopedia yet invented just a mouse
click
>>away. It wouldn't surprise me that more than half of asd
wouldn't
>>understand paragraphs of dense scientific terminology, but
you seem to
>>be claiming not only that almost everyone would fail to
understand it
>>at first reading, but that they would all be so
comprehensively
>>baffled that looking up the words they didn't know
wouldn't help in
>>the slightest.
>>
>>In fact, given that in asd we're all struggling with
diabetes, I would
>>have expected that some of those with no scientific
background
>>whatsoever would be motivated enough to learn something of
the biology
>>and medicine relevant to diabetes.
>>
>>> Otherwise, why post something that is, basically,
>>> meaningless?????
>>
>>I think you're confusing your being baffled with
meaninglessness in
>>general.
>
> OK, how about if I said that I think that 80% of the
people
> who would read that in this group wouldn't comprehend it,
> and would skip the information.

Which group? This is going to 3 groups, most of the
participants are long term posters and post in all 3 groups
regularly. I am not saying some won't skip some of the
posts but a lot participate in these types of threads, some
ask for the "English" version from time to time. No big
deal.