4 ms·
Why was this downvoted?
by curiousdater 10y ago
Why was this downvoted?
- jessriedel 10y agoI didn't downvote you, but I don't think your anecdotal experience advances the discussion (a criticism which applies to most of this thread).
- tomcam 10y agoAh, how else could one advance the discussion much without anecdotal experience with this particular topic?
- jasode 10y agoFor "discussion", you can have people looking for 2 different things: 1) confirm/discredit/explain/etc the specific facts/opinions in the article 2) expand the article's specific topic into a launch pad for general anecdotes (often manifested as group catharsis) I can't speak for jessriedel but I assume he's looking for the first type of discussion (science). It's not wrong or right but just pointing out how people look for different commentary. Based on curiousdater's upvotes, many HN readers find his online experience interesting and don't care that his comment could be posted to any submitted story about dating and not just this specific one about the science research into choice fatigue. To your question, it's not impossible to talk about choice overload without reverting to personal anecdotes. The article's author Elizabeth Svoboda only used one anecdote which was about her friend Shannon Whitaker. Ignoring that, 99% of the article cites data from professor Barry Schwartz, psychologists Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, anthropologist Helen Fisher, economist Hanna Halaburda, marketing professor Alexander Chernev, and researcher Daniel Mochon. It also mentions opposing evidence from professor Benjamin Scheibehenne. The personal anecdote about her friend was only a tiny amount of text at the beginning and the end. The anecdote was used as a narrative device to frame the article but it wasn't the main message.
- aurelianito 10y agoI find it quite interesting to know how things work for gay men. If he does not tell me, I would not know.