The Other Slashdot Effect

I also noticed the same thing on the internet board Slashdot, which I like a lot. It's full of smart, technically-inclined people from all over the world. When I first started posting, I would only post about once a week, and then only if I was absolutely sure I had something interesting, new, proven, etc to share. What I found was, no matter how well thought-out and constructed my post, once again I was always in the wrong. Spelling errors were brought out; incorrect use of terms was analyzed. Sometimes I was just insulted, for seemingly no reason at all. What the heck was going on?
By this time I had it figured out, so the other Slashdot Effect did not bother me (The original Slashdot effect is when a new site is posted in discussion on Slashdot, so much traffic hits the server that it goes down)
What was going on? Am I actually a complete moron who can say nothing useful? (Rhetorical question only!)
What was happening on that job, and what happens in a lot of groups with really smart people, is human nature. Smart people are usually driven to read and learn and excel in their field. There are a lot of things that can drive people to do this, but in some way it is tied to individual pride: pride of knowledge, pride of analytical skill, etc. Smart people, it turns out, are used to being smart! They're used to being the person in the room that spots the logic flaw, or is able to recite obscure historical information that is germane to the discussion. Part of the life of being a smart person is a constant "jockeying" to continue to be useful. To continue to have the best input into any conversation.
When I was in New England, I never did figure this out. And it drove me crazy. Here I was trying to provide clear analysis and logical input and decision-making abilities (after all, hey, I'm a smart person too!) and all I got was what I thought was a "hard time" from the team.
Later, I figured it all out. Just a couple years later I was working with a tactical military hardware company. Talk about smart people! It was full of software guys and EEs. Many had advanced degrees. The supervisor of this menagerie had a very simple stratagem: he asked questions. He never stated an opinion or got into a logical discussion: that would have been a disaster for the team (he managed about 90 people, as I recall). Instead, he would just ask gentle questions of his team, sometimes taking them aside one-on-one. His questions would gently guide them towards the discussion he wanted to have. It's funny -- I don't think anyone else actually picked up on this aside from me, the reason being I had suffered through this before. Sometimes the best lessons are the ones you learn the hard way.