[philipn]

I loved this passage! --

"..There was zero overlap between the provers and the bulldogs. I was expecting at least some overlap: somebody who mocked me but also provided a valid solution, or even tried but failed. But that didn’t happen.

I normally assume these people are “brilliant jerks”: they’re assholes online, but I still have to listen to them in case they say something important. This really cracked that assumption: none of the “brilliant jerks” were willing to put any skin in the game. You don’t have to listen if they have nothing to say."

[ms013]

I came to a similar realization a few years ago. I followed a number of people who were/are widely followed in parts of the FP community that are generally caustic, but I assumed their popularity implied that they had something useful to say. I eventually unfollowed/muted/blocked many of them because I reached a point where I realized I'm not dumb, I actually do know the domain pretty well, and I'm well regarded in that community, yet I think these people are just spewing hot air (either aggressively negative, confrontational, or self-promoting). To be honest, I don't think I've missed anything of any consequence since my block/mute/unfollow-fest. It does disappoint me when I look and see that some of these toxic personalities are still widely followed and still spewing the same garbage, even though I can't see any tangible contribution that they've made.

There are many who are good at making noise and opining, and even talking about wonderful "tech" that they are working on, but most of the "brilliant jerks" ultimately produce nothing of value and contribute nothing to the ecosystem.

[isthatart]

To be a brilliant jerk (BJ) is a social phenomenon. I think everybody (brilliant) is a BJ sometimes. In academy one does that to protect own field of research, or virtue signalling. A BJ can recognize a good idea and use it later without attribution (and perhaps in a better version, because he's brilliant). A BJ can bark at the stranger's idea and later become a supporter of the same idea, done by one of the friends. So in conclusion I think it is not constructive to NOT listen a BJ, instead treat them like an evolved form of a troll, face them with evidence and do what they don't: learn their field.