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You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes

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Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes

#2

Post by maigret »

Or maybe just not upvote? Good argumentation, still can get in the way of why HN is here. It's not just a place to make formal argumentation, but to exchange experiences, or get some opinions from others. In some case the opinion is wished from experts (how can I get funded etc), in others it is about how a product is liked by general users. So please take a piece of salt in applying that ;)

Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes

#3

Post by pseudonym »

In my experience, some of the best advice I've ever received has been from anecdotes that run counter to the text of an article.

...I kid. It's actually an interesting idea. I don't know about scrapping them entirely, but I think a lot of sites (say, Reddit) could benefit from moving the anecdotes elsewhere. Partially because of this, and partially because anecdotes in any form tend to derail the discussion pretty darn quick.

Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes

#7

Post by r00fus »

VMG wrote: post #5
drivebyacct2 wrote: post #4

Is this not based in the assumption that the article to which the anecdotes are offered as replies is omniscient? Which may in and of itself be fallacious.

The assumption is only that the article is based on a scientific study, not that it is omniscient.

A study that rigidly follows the scientific principles, but is intellectually dishonest (ie, sponsored by interested party of studied subject, etc) is often not useful to the reader of the study results. Because you can follow the letter of the principles, and still flout the spirit.

One should, when listening to a study, question the funding. Likewise, dissenting opinions must also be examined in what interested parties have a hand in their creation.

Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes

#8

Post by necubi »

pseudonym wrote: post #3

In my experience, some of the best advice I've ever received has been from anecdotes that run counter to the text of an article. ...I kid. It's actually an interesting idea. I don't know about scrapping them entirely, but I think a lot of sites (say, Reddit) could benefit from moving the anecdotes elsewhere. Partially because of this, and partially because anecdotes in any form tend to derail the discussion pretty da…

This is what makes r/AskScience so good. "Free of anecdotes" is a rule for posts, and it is vigorously enforced.

Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes

#9

Post by rsanchez1 »

The author didn't pick good examples of contrarian anecdotes found on HN. They are contrary to a study on coffee consumption and dementia. The study, however, is only a sample of 124 people from Tampa and Miami. The study is just as likely to have found an isolated effect as the posters with family members who consumed a lot of coffee and still developed alzheimers.

You would be better served by this:

https://sites.google.com/site/mccormickphilosophy/home/criti...

The author must be a frequent coffee drinker who didn't like that some people had a different experience with coffee than some other people had, and felt compelled to write that post. It's not the contrarian anecdotes that left me with the sense that the research findings weren't conclusive. It's the fact that a population of 124 people in two cities is not at all representative of the target population which numbers over 40 million according to the census bureau.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

Maybe when the study researchers conduct a larger study I'll believe them.

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