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Post by marie on Aug 14, 2012 13:33:39 GMT
Hello.
I was reading a review of a laptop and I came across this comment:
>Update - having struggled with the internet connection for a few weeks, I have by default found that my wireless printer was interfering with the connection! As a result problem solved!
My question is what does "by default" mean?
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Post by Twoddle on Aug 14, 2012 18:34:45 GMT
Hello. I was reading a review of a laptop and I came across this comment: >Update - having struggled with the internet connection for a few weeks, I have by default found that my wireless printer was interfering with the connection! As a result problem solved! My question is what does "by default" mean? "Default" means that something occurs unless something else happens first to prevent it. In the example you've given, I imagine the writer means that he'd tried everything he could think of for an explanation first, and the only thing left to try was his wireless router, which turned out to be the problem. If I want to get up at 6 am but forget to set my alarm clock, I might wake up around 8 am by default.
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Post by Tone on Aug 14, 2012 19:53:32 GMT
>"Default" means that something occurs unless something else happens first to prevent it. <
I think that, perhaps, it goes a little deeper than that, Twoddle.
It seems to me that "default" means that a specific thing has been established (defined) as the default that should occur if nothing prior overrides it. Thus, "enter a number (default 9)" would mean that, were no number entered, then the value 9 would be applied.
I feel that the use in the example given (the printer matter) was not particularly apt.
>If I want to get up at 6 am but forget to set my alarm clock, I might wake up around 8 am by default. <
I don't agree. You might well wake up at around 8 am by chance, but to wake by default you would need to have a second alarm clock (or a friendly neighbour) that would implement a "wake-up call" at 8.
Tone
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Post by Twoddle on Aug 14, 2012 21:38:38 GMT
>"Default" means that something occurs unless something else happens first to prevent it. <I think that, perhaps, it goes a little deeper than that, Twoddle. It seems to me that "default" means that a specific thing has been established (defined) as the default that should occur if nothing prior overrides it. I agree, and it's what I was trying to explain without going into too much detail. That's to say something occurs (value 9) unless something else happens first (another number) to prevent it. Again, I agree. I struggled somewhat to accept that the discovery (that the wireless printer was the problem) was "by default". >If I want to get up at 6 am but forget to set my alarm clock, I might wake up around 8 am by default. <If the non-setting of the alarm causes me to awake naturally, isn't my natural awakening the default position, whether it be at 8 am or any other time?
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Post by marie on Aug 15, 2012 9:09:25 GMT
Thank you for the responses. It is as I suspected. The word "default" to me should only be applied to setting on a device or program, as in "default settings". To use it for oneself as in the example given is redundant. The sentence works without it, and is more elegant without it. It really is nonsensical and infuriating. I find it annoying and stupid.
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Post by hubertus on Aug 15, 2012 14:26:10 GMT
Two players agree to play in a chess/tennis etc tournament at an agreed time. One player fails to turn up. The other wins by default.
The same as a defendent refusing to enter a plea or even turn up at court. A verdict would be given by default.
You could stretch the definition to a more metaphorical use and say that having eliminated all other possible sources of error/misconnection/malfunction, the last one must be the cause by default. I think this is what the original post was trying to say, but clumsy word order got in the way.
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Post by Tone on Aug 15, 2012 20:12:31 GMT
>If the non-setting of the alarm causes me to awake naturally, isn't my natural awakening the default position, whether it be at 8 am or any other time? <
Fairy nuff. (But it really requires that you will indeed wake up!)
>Two players agree to play in a chess/tennis etc tournament at an agreed time. One player fails to turn up. The other wins by default.
The same as a defendent refusing to enter a plea or even turn up at court. A verdict would be given by default.<
But both situations require that the "default condition" has previously been defined.
I really don't think that one can claim a default condition without its prior definition. (Which is why I would object to the original, "printer", usage.
Tone
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