Talk:Nerd/Archive 1

message: I took out the references to High Functioning Autism in the description part of this page . While nerds may appear to have autistic *traits*, one really doesn't have anything to do with the other. 
BTW, love your website Brons.
:: Thanks. Been working on it for quite a while.
:: -- Brons 01:22, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: High Functioning Autism

message: "The philosopher Timothy Charles Paul Fuller adopted the term nerd in the mid-1960s to describe a stereotypical intelligent recluse with poor social skills, one often the butt of others' jokes. "
Does anyone know the source of this information? I've tried doing a search for "Timothy Charles Paul Fuller" or any research done by him, but I've come up completely empty handed...
: My degree's in Philosophy and I've been researching the term nerd and publishing my findings on my [web page] for more than a decade, and I never heard of Fuller. The only references to him on the Web are quotes from this page. 
: Finally, the only other entries that the author of this portion of the page ever made were made the night of 14 Nov 2005 (and early the next morning) and consist of trivial contributions to Fuck and Wanker and an antisemitic addition to [Jew].
: From all of this, I feel confident that the Fuller reference is entirely spurious. I have removed it.
: --Brons 02:48, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Source? 

message: I have removed spock from the examples section, as he does not really fit the negative 'nerd' stereotype. Not only is he a fairly well-rounded individual, he is well-versed in hand-to-hand combat, and is not at all negatively maligned for his cerebral prowess. - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 16:24, Jun 11, 2004 (UTC)
:speaking as a self-confessed geek-girl in the UK (and we tend to see geeks as *far* better than nerds and very sociable, but whatever) I think I probably agree with you, although that they are both 'negative' terms is very mich in the eye (ear?) of the beholder ... some of us are very proud to be geeky! ;-) --VampWillow 17:17, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  spock 

message: The recent edits by Wikinerd don't reflect either a general consensus of the meanings of the terms, "geek" and "nerd" or any of the dicussed regional usages, but rather the "official definition of nerds, according to the webmaster of Wikinerds.org, NSK." ("NSK", being the user known here as Wikinerd.) I'm something of a newbie, but it seems to me that this is something of an NPOV issue, in that these definitions, lifted straight from the [Wikinerds.org] pages, seem:
 1. to be prescriptive rather than descriptive
 2. to be intended to advance the agenda of the Wikinerds.org community.
Someone has already removed Wikinerds advert for his web page, but to my mind, the more aggregious problem is the twisting of the content away from objective reportage of the usage of the term that the article has otherwise maintained.
I will confess to having a bit of an ulterior motive in this. Since 1994, I have maintained my own page attempting to explore and document the origins of the term "nerd", an it is hard enough to find solid documentary evidence of the origin of the term in the face of folks who insist that "everyone knows that..." it originated in one paricular way years before the first written documentation, without having to deal with someone who creates and propagates their own definitions here at a site that is widely copied elsewhere on the net.
Any thoughts?
-- Brons 01:44, 21 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nerd vs. geek, redux: Wikinerd 

message: On the Oregon coast, a nerd is more prestigious than a geek. Also, nerds have more social lives then geeks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.14.150.68 (talk • contribs) 23:33, 5 November 2004
:I live in the Portland, Oregon metro area, and the consensus here is geek is better than nerd. --KSnortum 06:41, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: From southwest washington, "Geek" is more positive, implies more of a social life. Dork is a playful putdown. --The Human Spellchecker 05:19, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  West Coast 

message: There's an incredible amount of potential redundancy between the geek and nerd articles; outside of a historical overview, the majority of content in each (especially nerd) applies to both. I'm seriously considering the possibility that the two should be merged. Thoughts? (I'm posting this to the Talk pages of both articles.) - Korpios 08:39, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that they should be merged. Fredrik | talk 09:53, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Redundancy With [[Geek]] 

message: Could someone please add an explanation to the picture caption explaining why that picture was chosen to represent "geek"? Thanks.
:"Geek"? Are you in the right talk page? — Wisq 05:54, 2005 Jun 23 (UTC)
::I had the same question (on the geek page). I'll copy this whole topic there. Jryden 18:18, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Caption for the picture 

message: I personally feel it's getting a bit out of hand with all the image linking, not only is it selective and subjective but it's also giving the article a very cluttered feel. I think the pre 19:37, 11 July 2005 article, in relation to the depictions, was a much cleaner article. Maybe we should think about reverting the additions made to the depictions by Zanimum (I believe)? --Bruce 19:08, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Depictions in fiction and media 

message: I moved the clutter to a new page 24.22.227.53 01:35, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of Nerds 

message: The "Differences" section is completely unfounded and one sided BS. Sounds more like a description of a fictional character from a movie. I say it should be completely deleted.
Vmicro75 05:38, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Differences section 

message: I've never heard the term "movie nerd" used before - I have heard movie geek, and the geek page does say that a geek includes someone with encyclopaedic knowledge of a particular subject, and mentions music geeks, politics geeks, ham radio geeks, etc. Should a more suitable picture and/or caption be used? -Superiority 09:49, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, that's certainly an incongruous picture. There was so much going on in Hughes' life that "nerd" isn't necessarily the first thing that springs to mind. I propose a pic of Professor Frink. RMoloney (talk) 20:42, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Howard Hughes, movie nerd 

message: Are nerds necessarily of above average intelligence, or is that the common view of them, an easy explanation for their behaviour? Isn't it also the way nerds perceive themselves, as a counterweight for their feelings of insecurity?
:Are you aware that calling all nerds insecure is about as accurate a generalisation as calling all of them (us) intelligent? Bearing in mind both that this is my own biased experienced and also that nerd is used primarily as a subjective label for one's peers, rather than objectively to describe a recognized social group, I have known people who have been called nerds yet are not insecure, and others who could be described as ... "unintelligent"... yet who undoubtably qualify for every other criterion of "nerd". I personally believe that since the term is technically slang, and is usually applied to persons who display above-average intelligence in pre-secondary education (ie. high school), the reference to above-average intelligence should stand. (Unfortunately lacks an account) 69.198.173.36 04:12, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Above average inteliigence? 

message: The word is commonly used in the context of a suffix and I think that deserves some sort of mention within the page. For example, I am a guitar nerd.
*That's not actually a suffix, I'm afraid. Furthermore, you may want to say "guitar aficionado". Deltabeignet 22:31, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nerd as a suffix 

message: This subgroup is wholy unrepresented in all nerd media, so I decided to throw in a little blurb about us. Feel free to move it around or something - as long as we're noted somewhere. :)
It's not plagarism or something. Please give it some consideration!
::My only problem with it is that something seems to have gone wrong. I don't understand the contrast between reason and logistical skills. If it was meant to be "logical skills" I am even more confused. Isn't the "F" supposed to stand for feeling? I've been doing some copyediting on the article but left this bit alone because I don't understand it. Metamagician3000 06:36, 2 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Adding info about INFP nerds 

message: This article needs a contents page addy 03:14, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contents Page 

message: A nerd is someone who is smart in terms of science and math yet socially retarded. A geek is someone who is just socially retarded, but is adept to very technical things such as comic books or computers. A nerd can be a geek and vice versa, which is why sometimes these terms overlap. The cases of each and/or both range from mild to severe, and may sometimes interfer with their social life significantly. That is how each term should be used, if they are to be used at all. Anyone feel free to comment on their insights as well. Lue3378 07:45, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nerd/Geek 

message: I wonder about this whole section. I hesitate to remove it, because I find it quite interesting. However, without some kind of referencing it seems like mere speculation. Even if there is a source for it, the whole Meyers-Briggs thing is controversial among psychologists (FWIW, I personally find it intuitively valid, but I'm not a psychologist and my personal feelings about aren't what matters here). I think this whole section should not only be sourced but also rerwritten in a way that doesn't just assume the scientific legitimacy of such classifications. Metamagician3000 02:28, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Personality theory stuff 

message: Hi, everyone. I'm from Iceland and over the years the term nerd ("njörður", or more commonly "nörd") has developed from being a derogatory term to describing someone who has much interest in a certain topic. Therefore, one can be a sports nerd, or a music nerd, or a psychology nerd or whatever. Therefore, this doesn't really apply anymore here in Iceland: "...but nerds have interests that are more encyclopedic and are in the fields of science and technology, such as The term is mostly widely used in the United States, but also has some currency in other English speaking countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand." Also, nerds needn't be socially inept, although they may be perceived to be so more often than other people. So I was wondering, has the term changed meaning in a similar way in the English language? And would it maybe be a good idea to discuss the use of the term in other languages? --Heida Maria 01:10, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Seems the consensus would be that you’ve described a geek.Bombot 15:20, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: The term nerd as used in other languages

message: if somebody is interested.... I have an image to suggest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85337969@N00/113670778/
or http://www.flickr.com/photos/85337969@N00/113670777/
The Copyright is mine... can be usefull here ? 
maborg Friday, March 17,2006
:Doubt it. it's just a picture of a pair of glasses... 惑乱 分からん 14:47, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Illustration

message: I was under the impression that most psychologists don't use this in their curriculum, and if they do it's as an example of the Wrong Thing to do. It's an interesting theory, but it's purely theory, and it's not scientific. Perhaps references to nerds being of a certain "type" should be removed. We know nerds aren't extraverted (maybe...), but that's about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.211.250.221 (talk • contribs) 13:05, 4 May 2006
As this is theory, and I recognize it as theory, I'd like to say that ENTPs and INFPs, typologically speaking, are in no way related to nerdiness/geekiness. Adding on to this, INTJs- given the webcomic- would be more of a nerd than geeks, and INTPs would be more of a geek than nerds, thus I think this portion needs to be rewritten. I do not believe that types of the MBTI should be excluded from being nerds, but, given the portraits of INTJs and INTPs, to a lesser extent, they would be most prominently associated with nerdiness. Thus, it should be noted that INTJs and INTPs (maybe) should be listed as definites for being nerds/geeks, but other types, though not directly related, should be said as possibilities. 139.55.13.251 02:12, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: MBTI

message: The section "Nerds and geeks" in the article is confusing. It really ought to be completely rewritten. Personally I have always heard the two words used interchangably, and I was hoping to find an explanation here (or at least a general consensus).
I was going to try to post an analysis explaining just why I think it's contradictory, but after re-reading it at least a half-dozen times I think it may be trying to get across one consistent thought: nerds are interested in pursuing a broad area of intellectual knowledge, while geeks tend to have only one or several specific areas of interest. This seems consistent with the definition of geek at the top of its own article. 
If I haven't oversimplified the it too much, perhaps it would be worth re-writing the section with that idea more clearly in mind. I think the problem with the way it's written now is that it tries to explain things several times from different angles, while simultaneously attempting to address the lack of consensus as to the accepted meanings. Perhaps a better approach would be to clearly explain the general consensus, and separately (either before or after) mention the ambiguity and interchangability of the two labels.
Also, I say "general consensus" because I can't imagine the existence of any kind of authoritative work (writings/studies/etc.) on the subject. I could be wrong :)
--HunterZ 00:03, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradiction in "Nerds and geeks" 

message: I'm inserting a certain webcomic that I believe fulfills the definitions betwixt Geek, Nerd, and Dork quite admirably in that one section entitled Nerds and geeks. DrWho42 04:47, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Inserting Webcomic Image 

message: :For quite some time in the later 20th century, the term "nerd" was generally considered derogatory, and was a common insult, especially among school-age boys. However, beginning in the late 1990s, many nerds on the Internet reclaimed the word nerd as a badge of pride and began using it as a positive description of a technically-competent person. Although traditionally used to describe men and boys, the terms "nerd" and "geek" have been adopted by many women interested in technology, science, mathematics and other typically male-dominated intellectual fields as badges of their accomplishments in these areas. However, many, if not all, self-styled nerds, even if they possess some of the above prerequisites, do not fit the traditional definition of nerd which also heavily emphasizes social alienation and awkwardness. Dictionaries define the word as one who is "socially inept".dictionary.reference.com : Nerd
I'm putting this on the talk page. After reading (mostly) the whole article, this needed to be pulled out of the "History" section. It doesn't say anything that isn't said somewhere else in the article. There is some other repetition that needs to come out, but I'll do that for later. --Charles Gaudette 20:50, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unnecessary paragraph 

message: In the "History" section, why is the  tag attached to the sentence "The narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect 'a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too' for his imaginary zoo."? Does not the preceding sentence state that this comes from Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo? — Michael J 20:29, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why "citation needed"? 

message: Well, it's a lovely picture and all that, but I have several questions:
1. Who put it on?
2. Who says it's correct?
3. Why hasn't anyone taken it off?
I don't think the picture is very relevant to the characteristics of nerds. In fact, I think it really just inforces the common misunderstanding that all nerds are losers with suspenders, pocket protectors, and glasses. We are not. I think that the picture should be removed becuase the concept of the "nerd look" is out-dated and the application is practically non-existent now. 
Sporks.Are.Loverly 02:37, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  New Picture 

message: My personal opinion is that a word is needed to describe a 'technically skilled person', regardless of one's social skills, that lacks the negative connotations or insulting potential of 'nerd' and 'geek'.
Something like 'technician' should be popularized; It could apply to nerds and geeks of all flavors - computer power users, programmers, math nerds, academics, as well as people with specialized skills in other areas.
It would be generally distinct from the term 'artist', though many technicians are also artists...
Just food for thought.
-John McClure
69.150.33.90 05:10, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Posssible synonym? 

message: For a ex of a nerd wikipedian, go to my userpage Yashtulsyan 01:29, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ex.

message: ===Dispute from WikiDaily 04:37, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Factual Accuracy Disputed - Discussion 

message: Since there has been no discussion and I feel the page needs to be fixed I am assuming the role of fixing it myself...at least temporarily until a full concensus can be reached. WikiDaily 22:03, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  No Discussion 

message: This article contains the lines,
However, nerds can hide themselves in everyday life, Jason Landis for example matches this perfectly. Jason lives in a small town in Walden, Colorado and suffers from nerditus
This seems to be a personal attack and should be removed.
Teto 06:43, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Personal Attack?