How do they do it?

Possibly they have already done a good deal of thinking and mental "research" on these topics already, and wisely choose what they wish to give their opinions on.

I think I've done worse on papers than 89%, but that's partly because they were written in another language, and I was misapplying English stylisms to them, and partly because I've lost my organizational skills. The profs all LOVE my ideas though....

LOL! Some of us are just more verbal - I, for example, am capable of turning out nonsense at a mile a minute - but it would take me a long time to write science papers, Wilso.

Craven thinks very fast - and types fast, too. I suspect it is just practice you need, Wilso.

I've been posting on these forums for 3 years-don't seem to be getting any better-or smarter.

You're smart at science - others at verbal stuff - some lucky folk at both.

If only I could reply in numbers!

I grew up in a lippy family. The accepted creed was "Anyone Who Can Talk, Can Write". I doubt that you are the sort of person who opens his mouth and babbles just to hold center stage. You think first.

Most writers do. The stare at the question, formulate a reply and then put their fingers on the keyboard.

Impudent question: Are you an addicted reader? I suspect that most of the articulate writers you mention get very cranky if they are deprived of the printed page for more than twelve hour stretches.

You may feel that your prose is halting and labored, but readers do not feel your prose is halting and labored. You say what you mean, clearly and concisely.

I hear ya Wilso. I read some peoples responses and I am in awe of how well they present themselves.

]My main problem here is that my skill to write in English properly as far smaller than anyone's else.

Therefor, you won't find long essays as those Wilso named can easily produce.

However, I can talk people gobsmacked in German, they say. :wink:
[Remembering one of my law examinations, when I only knew the wrong answer but wrote 20 pages reasoning that within 45 mins: the professor said, although my name wasn't on that paper (just my student ID-number), he knew at once that is was mine ]

I have to confess that I do pretty much all of my thinking on the fly.
I prefer to do my deep thinking in my "back brain" where it isn't bothering me while I watch the SuperBike racing or whatever.

I think the main thing is having an agile mind, a well rounded yet deep education and the ability to think quickly.

Also having 10 years of typing machine code on an ancient BBC Micro helps with the keyboard speed.

Being an decade-long expert with the "two-fingers-search-system", I only can underline that

The thing is, I don't have trouble with the spoken word. I can carry on a debate no trouble at all. But it seems to get lost between my brain and fingers when I try to put it in writing.

Helfino LOL

Actually, I've always been something of a writer, which I'm sure helps. I'm verbal but I often get tripped up as I talk. So I'm more articulate when typing because I can put it all together intelligently before clicking "Submit". I also spent 3 years in chat rooms before Abuzz so I've spent a lot of time typing on the fly. And, I choose what to respond to (mainly because there's no way I could possibly write on everything, anyway). If I don't have coherent thoughts on something, I usually wait to respond, or just read and I might not respond at all. And, I've always been able to spell, and I tend to look over long posts (including this one) and check for coherence and spelling. I know a lot of people don't care about spelling - and I like to think I don't obsess about it - but it does help with making yourself understood.

My penmanship, by the way, stinks. And since I'm now unused to doing a lot of longhand writing, I end up with odd spellings, which I think are a kind of handwritten typing (does that make any sense)? So I'll be trying to write subquery and it'll come out as subry. I'm going too fast, and looking ahead, and I just want the word written already, and I get to the end and then I go back over everything and find subry. But that's how I type; I get to the end and go back and find all sorts of mistakes.

I just realized I tend to speak that way, too, going a mile a minute and just wanting to get to the end, so I end up skipping over things. These days, as I'm getting older, I hit more hurdles and truly forget the words for something and I can sometimes get stalled for a few seconds trying to conjure up some simple word or name like "mechanic". Hence, I sound worse when speaking because it's in real time - you've got to wait a few seconds for me to get the word "mechanic" to the front of my brain, but in writing that process is hidden because I look over my post before submitting it.

Not to go off on too much of a tangent but I've found sometimes just changing positions is enough to get me to jog my memory; I literally see things differently. This is one of the reasons I'm often really fidgety when speaking.

Interesting question. :-D

I kissed the Blarney Stone in 1977 . . . no bullshit, scared the hell out of me, too--i'm not good with heights . . .

I think that we have a lot of people here who are expert on a myriad of subjects. Sometimes I read Setanta' posts on history, and I think that I have been living under a rock all these years. I would not even to venture to get into a historical discussion with him. I will just sit quietly, and attempt to absorb what he has written.

The same goes for some of the philosophy and political threads. I am an absolute naif when it comes to many aspects of those disciplines.

And that is what is so wonderful about A2K. In the "real" world, chances are that I would not socialize with those folks who are experts in certain fields, of which I know little. Here I can eavesdrop, and I have found that my "learning curve" has really risen since the beginnings of A2K!

I on the other hand just get flabberghasted, and sulk away, or attach myself to one and say "ditto".

Wilso- In my years on this earth, one thing that I have learned is that we can't all be expert at everything. There is nothing wrong with having little knowledge about something. But why sulk, or get flabbergasted? I look at it as an opportunity to learn something new.

I agree with Phoenix. I learn a lot from reading other peoples posts and maybe someday I'll be able to express myself as well as they do, but in the mean time, I'm happy just being me. No worries ;-)

Maybe it's the amount of learning you can do? I don't want to learn TOO much, in the fear that things I already know will start falling out the other side.

Just realised I've started 5 new topics today. Must be a record for me.