User blog comment:MilkyWay90/I'm ready for the easiest OCF!/@comment-32697988-20180821002553/@comment-27513631-20180821165344

If you do enter the first group, and make a cool thing and try to show it off to the second group, then you're probably not gonna get a good reaction, because they have standards for formality you haven't.

Yeah, I'm kinda of the opinion that the second choice is better, honestly. I tried to say it in an unbiased way. But I genuinely struggle to be okay with all of the hand-waving. Besides, you really don't need to do high-school maths first, or even excel at it to do good at this, because it's a different skill set.

I'm not saying it's easy - personally, I wanted to know I was right, so spent hours trying to understand the definition of a Mahlo cardinal - it's how I first fell into this rabbit hole, and the first step was the second hardest. If you ask about, you'll probably find someplace where you can chat to people who understand the stuff, and are willing to give you a helping hand. It's just - I, personally, find it hard to be told I'm wrong. So if I went the first way, and wanted to go the second, I'd have a lot of unlearning to do, and I'd find it really hard. Definitely harder than just doing it straight off.

Do what you wanna do. Most people here are hobbyists, and if that's what you're looking for, then either way could work for you, although you'll definitely end up with different crowds. If you want to really understand this stuff, then I honestly can't vouch for the first way. Sorry.