Rebuttals to articles (ones that are voted up anyway) in the comment section are almost always well reasoned refutations. This article is addressing a non-problem.
You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
11–20 of 158 posts
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#12Forget what you and your friends experience. If we manage to get a piece of research sponsored, you'd better believe it!
Sorry, I'll go on the experiences of myself and people I trust over research/article spinning.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#13No. Contrarian anecdotes are good. They may turn out to be without merit, but then again so may the article itself. Having a real discussion is a good thing.
Also, I would like to propose a logarithmic scale for weighting such things. Say, if the article in question found something extraordinarily significant with 100 out of 100 samples resulting in A, then it's still not rational to weigh a contrarian viewpoint resulting in B with 1/101 - it should maybe be closer to 1/3 or something.
Consensus culture and worship authority are not desirable in my opinion. Arguments should be weighed on their merits and it's appropriate to explore other viewpoints or explanations even if they turn out to be dead ends most of the time.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#14The 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.g…
Great comment. I am most certainly not claiming that you shouldn't question research findings on other grounds, such as sampling bias or statistical significance, as you have done here; those types of points are extremely valuable.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#15I've noticed that many of my biases, typically for or against some name brand or technology, even if not anecdotal, are old. I now try to remember not only how I came to this opinion, but when. I guess that's one of the consequences of aging.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#16You should question everything. This includes studies published and labeled "scientific".
Contrarian anecdotes are important (but they too should be questioned).
Nothing should be above questioning; even prevailing wisdom.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#17I've noticed that many of my biases, typically for or against some name brand or technology, even if not anecdotal, are old . I now try to remember not only how I came to this opinion, but when . I guess that's one of the consequences of aging.
My dad once received an inappropriate form letter from Texaco in the 1970's and never went to a Texaco station since.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#18If best contrarian comments are weak - I assume that original article is probably correct.
If I don't see any contrarian comments, then I suspect groupthink in discussion.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#19I totally get where the author is coming from, but I am not reeeally sure if that is good advice. Anecdotal evidence has its place, eg: proof by counterexample, challenging false, but widely held beliefs, or alerting people to new circumstances.
A: "Murrumbidgee River is fun and safe for children to swim in! No one came to any harm there for the last 100 years!" B: "Dunno... my dog was eaten by a crocodile there last Saturday..."
B's dog is a sample of one, but maybe worth paying attention to.
Re: You Should Downvote Contrarian Anecdotes
#20You should question everything. This includes studies published and labeled "scientific". Contrarian anecdotes are important (but they too should be questioned). Nothing should be above questioning; even prevailing wisdom.
>even prevailing wisdom.
Especially prevailing wisdom, since it is least likely to be questioned normally.