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Cunningham's Law

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Re: Cunningham's Law

#41

Post by sundvor »

notafish wrote: post #34

I noticed a similar thing with my own young kids: if someone asked them a question and they weren't answering out of shyness, the the surest way to get them to respond would be to suggest a wrong answer, at which point they couldn't help but correct you (which was generally enough to break the ice).

Ha ha yes this is great. To get my daughter to snap out of crying at night when she needs to go to bed I name her fluffy toys incorrectly. She immediately forgets her worries to correct me. So much fun.

(Here, hug this big - handing her a koala).

Re: Cunningham's Law

#43

Post by ryanjshaw »

johnnyApplePRNG wrote: post #25

I have learned so much more about antiques by posting false statements (increasingly knowingly) about things I have found while out thrifting than I have asking for information or help. If you ask for help, you're usually asking into the void. If you make an incorrect statement, you get repeatedly bashed with facts and research. So if I must... I shall.

A similar idea works in real life when you're looking for something. If you say out loud "I can't find the whiteboard markers, they're not where they are supposed to be!", somebody will magically appear to remind you that you moved them to another meeting room earlier that morning.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#45

Post by eyelidlessness »

marcodiego wrote: post #36
eyelidlessness wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah a lot of people don’t like insincerity and gamed interaction in their personal relationships.

Hmmm... Never thought about it this way. I'd mostly seen it as if some people were unable to separate argument from the messenger. Maybe I got so used to talk to and live with people I disagree with that I expect others to be able to handle it just like I do.

Speaking as someone who can say I’ve lost or damaged friendships with sporting disagreements: I have very real significant disagreements with people I care about. I now take them seriously and treat them with care. I try to remember those disagreements might part me with people who are important to me, and try to remember that sometimes that parting is necessary and other times it’s not. Most of the time it’s not.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#47

Post by Aloha »

bricemo wrote: post #35

I have started saying aloud “Someone on the internet is saying something I disagree with, and it’s making me upset”. I say this whenever I notice it happening. It immediately makes me realize how silly it is for this to take up my time, and frees me to let go and move on.

I do this too.

It works half the time to make me disengage - the other half of the time it's on HN or Telegram with friend, and I have a lot to say.

The importance of the content varies.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#48

Post by MrsPeaches »

ineedasername wrote: post #3

A sort of interesting "corollary" to this is something I've noticed in mobile games with in-app ads for other mobile games: The best way to attract a player isn't by showing them someone playing well, it's by showing them someone playing very bad Because these ads show demo play (usually of puzzles) where the player is making obviously bad decisions, and watching it is sort of like seeing a dozen objects in a row, bu…

This is also a classic tactic to draw in marks in the “Find the Lady” [1] confidence trick. Wiki says it’s been going since the 15th century!

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-card_Monte

Re: Cunningham's Law

#49

Post by divbzero »

dang wrote: post #40

Only one past thread? Cunningham's Law - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7364997 - March 2014 (107 comments) Also, hasn't Ward disavowed coming up with it? Pretty sure I read that somewhere. Edit: ah yes! I never suggested asking questions by posting wrong answers. This is a misquote that disproves itself by propagating through the internet as Cunningham's Law. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fclyQt6R5Dc

But does the misquote really disprove itself? Commenting about Cunningham’s disavowal ends up being evidence in support of Cunningham’s Law.

Re: Cunningham's Law

#50

Post by quickthrower2 »

ineedasername wrote: post #3

A sort of interesting "corollary" to this is something I've noticed in mobile games with in-app ads for other mobile games: The best way to attract a player isn't by showing them someone playing well, it's by showing them someone playing very bad Because these ads show demo play (usually of puzzles) where the player is making obviously bad decisions, and watching it is sort of like seeing a dozen objects in a row, bu…

Yeah those game ads are cringe.
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