4 ms·

What's with the "serious question", "genuine question", etc? Mostly I see this mannerism prefacing questions that could not reasonably be taken as a joke or pro

What's with the "serious question", "genuine question", etc? Mostly I see this mannerism prefacing questions that could not reasonably be taken as a joke or provocation. Serious question: are people so touchy these days that you have to assure them that you are not being hostile before even saying something?

praptak 10y ago
I think it means "don't interpret curiosity as middlebrow dismissal".
deleted 10y ago
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electrotype 10y ago
This is a huge release for the Angular team, I'm happy for them and I don't want to sound like I'm "attacking" them with such question. Also, english is not my main language so maybe I don't understand perfectly when to use this expression or not. I see I should use it more carefully! ;-)
aiokos 10y ago
If you look at some of the comments condemning him for not backing up his preferences with statistics it makes sense that he should preface his questions with something to provide levity. I don't know why programming communities are so touchy about their tools, particularly JavaScript frameworks. It must be a sort of buyer's satisfaction to convince themselves that they made the correct time investment.
akst 10y ago
Someone having a different point of view online isn't that radical of a concept. Especially considering how easy it is to misinterpret the tone of someone's remark online. It just shows you're going out of your way to clarify your interested in a genuine discussion.
- TelmoMenezes 10y ago
  Fair enough. For me it has the opposite effect, it makes everything sound less genuine. But hey, I'm just some guy, if people like it... I find unnecessary clichéd phrases very annoying (e.g "going forward"). Maybe I'm alone in this. It's not because of pretentiousness or language puritanism, it's that it makes me feel that I'm reading something created by corporate PR or some other soulless entity with ulterior motives. My rule of thumb: if you have nothing creative to add, just be simple.

praptak 10y ago

I think it means "don't interpret curiosity as middlebrow dismissal".

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

electrotype 10y ago

This is a huge release for the Angular team, I'm happy for them and I don't want to sound like I'm "attacking" them with such question. Also, english is not my main language so maybe I don't understand perfectly when to use this expression or not. I see I should use it more carefully! ;-)

aiokos 10y ago

If you look at some of the comments condemning him for not backing up his preferences with statistics it makes sense that he should preface his questions with something to provide levity. I don't know why programming communities are so touchy about their tools, particularly JavaScript frameworks. It must be a sort of buyer's satisfaction to convince themselves that they made the correct time investment.

akst 10y ago

Someone having a different point of view online isn't that radical of a concept. Especially considering how easy it is to misinterpret the tone of someone's remark online. It just shows you're going out of your way to clarify your interested in a genuine discussion.

TelmoMenezes 10y ago
Fair enough. For me it has the opposite effect, it makes everything sound less genuine. But hey, I'm just some guy, if people like it... I find unnecessary clichéd phrases very annoying (e.g "going forward"). Maybe I'm alone in this. It's not because of pretentiousness or language puritanism, it's that it makes me feel that I'm reading something created by corporate PR or some other soulless entity with ulterior motives. My rule of thumb: if you have nothing creative to add, just be simple.