Some tactics for writing in public

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 08, 2023, 2:32 AM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #44

halfinvested wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are going to feel all kinds of things. Asking whether or not they should feel them is a dead end in the context of public forums, because nobody controls anybody else's feelings, or how each individual reacts to a feeling. Sincere, productive conversations are mostly going to take place in more private forums like group chat or face to face. Public discussion threads are better suited for identifying friends a…

It's not a dead end, because public forums are not natural phenomena. They are things we design, build, maintain, and police. Personally, I want experts to be able to talk about their work without feeling abused, harassed, or threatened. I want it not just for myself, but so that we can have a society based on truth, not just on who can shout the loudest or who can be the biggest jerk.

Post by worthless-trash » Tue, Aug 08, 2023, 2:53 AM UTC

lapcat wrote: post #83

globalreset wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fear of repercussions is mostly gone. Is it? Because AFAICT people censorship themselves online all the time for the fear of repercussion. It's like being on tape 27/7 where anyone that doesn't like you can watch your old tapes and loook for problems.

For obscure people, especially anonymous randos, there are practically no consequences. When I hear people complain about "repercussions" from online speech, they usually just mean criticism. And that's all the article author seems to mean too. "I realize this section makes me sound like a Perfectly Logical Person who does not get upset by negative public criticism, I promise this is not at all the case and I have 10…

Post by giraffe_lady » Tue, Aug 08, 2023, 3:09 AM UTC

munificent wrote: post #150

gremlinunderway wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, there's a really odd all or nothing kind of attitude with knowledge, experience or skill, as if "being smart" is like a linear growth Pokemon level-thing rather than being more like a radar chart of skills and experience. Which I find so odd and absurd in a profession that's full of esoteric knowledge. Being experienced and smart obviously is a huge asset, but if you just aren't familiar with library X but new…

Software development strongly self-selects for people who like black-and-white, all-or-nothing, binary reasoning. Few people have patience for a tool that will fail to even attempt to run a several-million-line program because there happens to be a trivial typo in one line in one file. It should be no surprise that kind of people for whom behavior like that is reasonable are the kind of people to think intelligence i…

Post by guy98238710 » Tue, Aug 08, 2023, 4:18 AM UTC

datagram wrote: post #166

guy98238710 wrote: post #133

Is it just me or is this post screaming with self-consciousness and political correctness? Author is self-censoring policy suggestions and social/cultural insights, which I personally find interesting to write and read about, especially the weirder ones that provide transformational experience. And the dig-related blocking is just jarring. It makes it look like the author is quick on the trigger. PS: I just noticed t…

The author is tactically avoiding discussions that she considers unproductive and does not want to participate in, hence the title of the blog post. > Is it just me or is this post screaming with self-consciousness and political correctness? Good writers always consider the way their choice of words will affect their audience. Are you suggesting that this is a bad thing?

Post by lapcat » Tue, Aug 08, 2023, 7:59 AM UTC

worthless-trash wrote: post #188

lapcat wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples?

I'm not in the habit of keeping recorded data of on these, but internet witch hunts are not a new thing. I'll let you search for it.