Just a comment on this, the first time I asked something here (it was not a good question) I got bashed pretty badly. I was obviously a noob but that didn't seem to matter the least. That question is now deleted, but still if not for ACM & DS who later on answered me nicely I wouldn't have come back
Frankly, the names mentioned are entirely in line with my own opinion about certain users whose contributions generally bring down the quality of the site.
So, I chose to make a somewhat general statement, raising awareness, and leave it at that.
I found it interesting that this user, who doesn't even use the site that much, almost immediately identified a specific user as a major problem. My coworker did not leave in a huff. Like I said, he is very level-headed, but he did zero in on one specific poisonous user.
@Danu Again, I am bringing this up to raise awareness. Perhaps next time that user is flagged for unconstructive/rude comments the mods will remember I mentioned this.
@DanielSank Sure, I'm just saying that without more information to act on, the awareness will have been raised and then it will fall back to its usual level and nothing will change.
@Danu Yes well perhaps if I remind the mods about this next time that user says something ridiculous it will help put this (multi-year-long) situation into perspective.
@DanielSank Your reaction makes it seem like him saying he's a potentially great contributor is such an absurd joke that you don't even get it, which would be a very dry way to insult someone.
@DanielSank While active enough, the site is slow moving, and it is easy for a few people to seemingly dominate comments. I believe you already once noticed that there isn't really an effective way to combat that, since getting into arguments with them tends to be pointless, and just leads to the whole thread getting deleted/moved to chat sooner or later, making it a waste of your time.
@ACuriousMind I do think that after a long enough pattern of posting unconstructive, combative, degrading, and misleading comments is established a user should be handled. And I think the mods do a great job of handling these situations. I have no complaints at all. I only posted that message above so that if/when that user causes more trouble we have some one more bit of evidence that this person is a problem.
Maybe that's foolhardy of me though.
I think there's been sufficient reaction to my chat message that I realize it was an error.
One way to solve this problem is to use Whitney embedding theorem: Embed $M$ in $R^{2n+1}$ via a proper map $i: M\to R^{2n+1}$ so that $0\notin i(M)$. Then the function $h: x\mapsto ||i(x)||$ is a smooth exhaustion function on $M$. (Properness of $i$ translates to the property that $h$ is an exha...
