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The internet has made defensive writers of us all

pchiusano.github.io

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Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#91

Post by ghaff »

auganov wrote: post #32

I've been thinking about that quiet a bit lately. My two random thoughts: 1. I don't think it's strictly bad. More pressure to build coherent and precise arguments is good. It can indeed yield unnecessarily verbose language but I don't think it has to? Inserting qualifiers etc. everywhere is just the most naive way of approaching it, like a newbie programmer using too many nested if statements. 2. We should assume al…

I do agree with 1. 2 is optimistic.

Depending on the situation, some "weasel words" (may, could, probably, etc.) or other ways of adding some fuzz to your arguments are appropriate. But formulating cogent and precise arguments with defensible data and references is better when possible.

Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#93

Post by hluska »

khedoros wrote: post #84
jsprogrammer wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is wrong with being charitable. Some statements are just wrong, or there is no assumption of best intentions that can satisfy the claims being made. What is wrong with not writing blatantly false statements or calling out wrong statements for being wrong (or, asking for a correction)? There is a reason compilers cannot take arbitrary text and produce the program you are 'actually' thinking of.

"Perfect is the enemy of good", perfection isn't always necessary for effective communication, and the perceived intent of the writer usually matters more. If you think the writer is trying to mislead someone, or they said something that you think will lead to misunderstandings of something important, then call them out or ask for a correction. I took the post as being more about "the writer didn't cover all the edge…

Very nicely written!! :)

Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#96

Post by vectorjohn »

kelukelugames wrote: post #18

As engineers, we are hardwired to nitpick. Coming up with counter-examples is the default response. Instead, I try to say a supporting example first. This helps me learn from other people's point of view. Edit: Though I admit I don't do the best job on HN. :/

> Coming up with counter-examples is the default response. > Instead, I try to say a supporting example first.

I like what you did there. Not just you, it seems many of the comments are coming up with nitpicks or counterexamples. I don't know what that means, I just found it ironic.

Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#97

Post by jsprogrammer »

khedoros wrote: post #84
jsprogrammer wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is wrong with being charitable. Some statements are just wrong, or there is no assumption of best intentions that can satisfy the claims being made. What is wrong with not writing blatantly false statements or calling out wrong statements for being wrong (or, asking for a correction)? There is a reason compilers cannot take arbitrary text and produce the program you are 'actually' thinking of.

"Perfect is the enemy of good", perfection isn't always necessary for effective communication, and the perceived intent of the writer usually matters more. If you think the writer is trying to mislead someone, or they said something that you think will lead to misunderstandings of something important, then call them out or ask for a correction. I took the post as being more about "the writer didn't cover all the edge…

To be clear, I have not read the original post; I was only responding to WalterBright's post.

We do get to skip over words and make up our own meanings of them, anyway. :)

Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#98

Post by JeremyMorgan »

So absolutely true. 2016 needs to be about taking it back a notch. Let's write how we want to write and say what we want to say and start ignoring the loudly offended. I'm serious here. Marginalize them instead of giving them power.

And I don't mean important things like racial or gender sensitivity, I just mean the fringe little things that people pick apart and whine about.

I decided a while back when I write opinion pieces for my blog, you're getting my opinion. Whine and complain, flame me in the comments, I don't care. You'll get over it.

Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#99

Post by dkarapetyan »

noonespecial wrote: post #95

The phenomenon of the nitpicky someone-on-the-internet-is-wrong type comment is so prevalent, I thing we need an acronym like tl;dr for it. How about "willful misinterpretation; doesn't justify response"? Wm;djr

This is great. I think I'll start signing my responses this way in response to "willful misinterpretations".

Re: The internet has made defensive writers of us all

#100

Post by SolaceQuantum »

JeremyMorgan wrote: post #98

So absolutely true. 2016 needs to be about taking it back a notch. Let's write how we want to write and say what we want to say and start ignoring the loudly offended. I'm serious here. Marginalize them instead of giving them power. And I don't mean important things like racial or gender sensitivity, I just mean the fringe little things that people pick apart and whine about. I decided a while back when I write opini…

> And I don't mean important things like racial or gender sensitivity, I just mean the fringe little things that people pick apart and whine about.

Isn't the common argument that certain aspects of racial or gender sensitivity are considered "fringe little things that people pick apart and whine about"? Like mansplaining, manspreading, halloween costumes about other races, the recent World Fantasy Convention change from HP Lovecraft busts as their trophies?

EDIT: If I'm actually doing exactly what is being argued against please let me know. I'm actually just very curious where the "line" is between too-PC and not-too-PC.

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