Quote Originally Posted by Timothy OConnor View Post

As for my background, I apologize for not introducing myself formally. In fact, when rex made his comment I immediately PM'd him last night that I had not noticed the intro area and would post there as soon as I had time (he can vouch for that if you're still feeling any hostility or doubt towards me as implied in your comments).

I have not yet posted in the intro, not out of deliberate neglect, but merely out of great enthusiasm for the forum's excellent content. I was not aware that such weight was placed on introductions and had been simply enjoying the exchange of ideas.

And that is the peril of assumptions, both mine and yours!

Best Regards,

Tim

PS Quick background: have served in senior leadership positions for various companies supplying defense, civilian agency, and the commercial world with underlying technologies related to reconaissance and information retrieval. These technologies are being used in Iraq, Afghanistan, the broader GWOT, civilian space agencies, and even in commerical entities. Not nearly as exciting as many on this forum thus my interest in your comments. Otherwise I'm just an amateur, armchair historian with a "virtual" doctorate in military history according to my wife who says I buy way too many books (in our last move we had more weight in books than furniture!)

Tim, I'm sure that in time you'll discover what a unique and valuable resource the SWC is. Much of the credit for that goes to the owners, the moderators, and most of all, the real-world expertise of the membership. Unfortunately, the very thing that makes this a great place to have discussions also makes it a magnet for people who have less than honorable motives or hidden agendas (and they show up like clockwork several times a month). That's partly why we like to see folks introduce themselves and/or fill out the Profile with something more than "n/a".

I see from your post that you have been involved in developing IR technology. That's my professional specialty as well. Are you a member of SIGIR? Do you have any particular areas of interest in the field, such as deception detection or stylometric analysis?