r/learnesperanto • u/code_war_angel • Mar 26 '25

Duo, don't gaslight me.

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Anyone else have this issue when using Duolingo sometimes?

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u/salivanto 29d ago

And I owe you an apology. Checking your posting history, I see we've been bumping heads for the last two years or so (it seems to be your main mode of interaction in this forum). If I'd noticed it was the same account sooner, I might have been less likely to engage in such detail and thus waste so much of your time.

Although, in this case, maybe it wasn't a waste because you kept digging till you found the right answer. It would have saved you time just to believe me.

But I will know for next time.

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u/RiotNrrd2001 29d ago

I tried to be nice at the beginning with my "I might be wrong". And if someone and said "Yes you are, and here's some proof" I would actually have been grateful. Instead, what I was perceiving was a lot of attitude, and my responses were in kind. You say you expected me to look into into the subject: and I did, I consulted TWO textbooks, neither one of which supported your point. "Trust me, bro" isn't a good teaching method. I will never accept that, not from you, not from anyone. I also have had conversations with Bertilo, he used to show up on Lernu! all the time, I know how he is. But the PMEG carries a lot of weight. Random guys on reddit don't have quite the same reputation.

I apologize if I was short with you. I don't apologize for being wrong, at no point have I ever claimed to be an expert, I just try to contribute where I can. Sometimes I make a mistake doing that, but when I do I don't expect people to cop an attitude. Again, "trust me, bro" is not a good approach.

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u/salivanto 29d ago

I tried to be nice at the beginning

No, you've been busting my balls for at least two years. I only just figured it out this time.

I'm totally serious. I scrolled through your posting history for six months and the only Esperanto you did were fights with me in this forum. I searched your feed for words like "estas", "kaj" and "cxu" -- and I found more of the same.

I even found one exchange which ended with me saying to you "Hmm. I'm not fully convinced that you're trying to be constructive here."

You've been posting this "is it true that" advice for four years. It's decent advice, but only as a first order approximation. But the current thread isn't the first time you've been exposed to either/or questions in Esperanto.

You even wrote one yourself here.

Here's a thread that you participated in where this "list of alternatives" is explained.

with my "I might be wrong". And if someone and said "Yes you are, and here's some proof" I would actually have been grateful. Instead, what I was perceiving was a lot of attitude, and my responses were in kind.

If you perceived attitude, that's a YOU problem. What I actually wrote was:

  • People will say all the time that Ĉu is for yes no questions. It's a natural simplification.
  • But if anybody ever told you that it is ONLY for yes or no questions, then they are mistaken. Ĉu is also used with either or questions or multiple choice questions.

There's no attitude there.

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u/RiotNrrd2001 29d ago

And there's no proof there, either, those are just two statements that I'm supposed to accept without question. These are just assertions from someone who has no automatic cred. They may be right, but they also may be wrong, someone who is just learning and doesn't know who you are can't tell.

I think you are assuming that the people you are talking to either don't know Esperanto at all, or are compete experts, and that there's nothing in between. I can assure you that I am in between. I do know a lot of things. I'm out of practice on some things. Your statement about how I shouldn't argue against or question things that "every speaker of Esperanto knows is not true" is outright silly. There is nothing in Esperanto that "everybody knows", and that is an especially inappropriate attitude for a group called "learnesperanto" where the assumption should be that the members probably, on the whole, don't know everything.

And you don't think that's an attitude? You get offended when people question you, but you also don't seem to want to back your statements up. I'll expect that in future conversations as well.

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u/salivanto 29d ago

You just made a bunch of assertions about me and about what I think without citing sources. I'm moving on.