Is this a WP thing or just the net in general?

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well you get these people everywhere.
In real life you may look stupid if you cannot back up your words, or don't have any laurels to rest on.
On tinternet you don't have accountability.

Hmm... sorry about that Freud but I think you are wrong. I actually feel sorry for people when they generally think their stuff is first class and get big-headed about it because they are setting themselves up for a fall when they try to make money out of it. I am quite content with my average skills. I just don't need to be particularly good at anything, I can settle for enjoying my hobbies and being competent.

I mean, I don't want to specifically mention some of the things I am talking about because that would just be mean but a lot of the areas where I notice this are things that I don't even do that much let alone things that I am deluded enough to think I am great at.

Even if someone IS actually really great at something; a little humility wouldn't go amiss. You tend to find in life that the people who are really masters of their field are the most humble ones anyway.

I know what you mean. I actually saw a person PROUD of a solder joint he did. He was CROWING about it, and showing it to everyone and it was the LARGEST COLD joint you have ever seen! It was the stereotypical "DON'T DO THIS" joint you will see in text books!

One time that SAME guy was showing people how he found that underneath the label of some PROMS you could find a window "to see the chip". I had to tell him "NOPE! THAT is an EPROM, and exposing that window to UV radiation ERASES the chip! That chip might not be good anymore! Of course, just HANDLING it could have fried it!"!

BTW that guy later was banned from some colleges, and became WORLD FAMOUS as a jerk troublemaker squealer. Last I heard, he squealed on the ONE person that could have helped him, etc.... to keep from being sent to jail HIMSELF!

BOY, you should TRY to become really good at SOMETHING!

You are right about humility. It DOES go a long way. In real life, I AM a bit more self deprecating.

Still, let people crow. I don't think it has gotten too bad. I have seen some VERY bad stuff elsewhere!

Steve

It seems to be an Internet thing.

Much of the writing on the Internet is absolutely atrocious. The spelling is awful and there is often little logic in many of the things people write. People also tend either to use all caps (shouting) or all small letters, which renders the text impossible to read.

I have also seen very eloquent writing. The people on my cat site are, for the most part, good writers. The only exceptions to the rule are the rare trolls that occasionally crop up. These are dealt with immediately.

I tend to switch between periods of complete arrogance and times when I have no self esteem whatsoever, and this probably comes across in a lot of my posts (particularly the arrogance). I think this is true of a lot of people on the internet, not just WP. In general I don't think I'm brilliant at anything really. I've been told my main strengths are writing and drawing, and now and then I'll write/draw something I'll be happy with, but more often than not, I can't see why other people think it's so great. A lot of it seems to be fuelled by the fact that people seem reluctant to give constructive criticism a lot of the time, so a lot of mediocre work receives a very positive reaction, practically deluding the person who did it. Which doesn't really help anyobody...

Don't encourage them! It is NOT cool if you brag, etc....

Steve

I'd be interested to know the ethnic heritage of those who especially dislike to hear others brag about their abilities. I'm pretty annoyed by it myself, and I can't see how people can behave that way. I'm of Irish heritage, and I was brought up never to brag or boast about anything. Being aspie, I took this lesson very literally, so I'm pretty sensitive to it to this day. I'm just now after a year in counseling learning to take a little pride in my accomplishments. When I was little and someone complimented me on anything, I'd actually get angry and mock them somehow or change the subject. I still remember in third grade when my teacher cleaned out my desk and gave all the crumpled-up tests and homework to my mom. I was standing there and remembered her saying "I don't know why she didn't take these home and show them to you - they're all As."

I don't see very much excessive boasting on WP, actually. When I do, I can tell it's usually an AS thing with that person rather than a strictly ego thing, like it would be with an NT. When NTs boast, I'm usually right there with the pin to burst their bubble!

A good load of people have told me I'm arrogant, both online and offline.

I don't really claim it to be false. I try my hardest to be realistic about my strengths and weaknesses, and it is what makes me arrogant. I've realised that I think differently compared to the majority of people; I like to boast about my strengths, and be honest about my weaknesses. Most people don't boast about their strengths but don't like to admit they have weaknesses, either.

I most unfortunately live in a somewhat ret*d country and it simply boosts my ego. I'm lucky to have the internet (where there are more smart and reasonable people) and especially be on THIS site... or else I might have developped NPD out of dealing with people with lower levels of intelligence than mine.

I said all along that AS people SEEM arrogant. I have even seen that listed as a symptom. It is a combination of obsession, perfection, autism, and just stating the truth. Speak too loud/often about what you know when someone needs it, or makes a mistake, and they figure you are arrogant. ESPECIALLY if you are young, they feel THEY are smarter or the expert, or they know you aren't "educated".

Steve

There is something important you didn't properly stressed. They will judge you arrogant if you insist too much on talking about your topics. It happened to me, and I learned why on the wikipedia's page about AS.

Unluckily, autism makes you less able to switch topic in conversation, because of the delay in response. You spend seconds thinking a good reply and then you have to discard it because they already changed topic.

Last edited by Zhaozhou on 22 May 2007, 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

Unnamed,

I'm of German heritage, and my mother told me not to brag about things. I never really thought I had a lot to brag about in the first place. I am interested in results, not in accolades. If I feel I have done less than my best, a compliment will ring hollow in my ears.

Well put Steve. It's exactly how it is.

Many people here have suffered rejection all their lives and it's human nature to show off your abilities when you're in a forum that allows you to.

To merely state one's abilities matter of factly in conversation can often seem like bragging to the NT. I don't recall reading anything here on W.P. that amounted to bragging.
It might be interesting to know the average IQ of forum members here. I'll bet it isn't on the low side. Often what people write is not a direct indicator of their IQs, particularly if they are of a personality type that communicates unconventionally.

Mine is about average, but a lot of the questions seem to be worded to me oddly so I can't figure out exactly what they are wanting-even if there is only one possible answer, I can't figure out how to get from the question to the answer, if that makes sense

I also feel like an idiot, but they always say if you don't know the answer to something, make a guess... but then the test says whatever you do, don't just guess, lol.

the ego boosting? Could be... but I have never visited anywhere else, so I have no clue. All I know is here, it seems everyone I meet is an expert at something Even when they aren't any good at it.

I understand what you mean and it happens to me a lot. I often correct my teachers, I even once corrected an astronomy expert about the mean distance of the Earth from the sun.

But the arrogance that I talked about isn't like that. I consider myself to be superior to many people in more areas than I consider myself to be inferior to them; and while it is, in my opinion, realistic instead of being a dream or hope, like many types of arrogance; it still IS arrogance... although I'm not murderous towards my inferiors like Hitler, lol.