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> He has no background, and therefore, what he says is purely within the context of the discussion. Which is precisely the intended effect: it makes you judge

> He has no background, and therefore, what he says is purely within the context of the discussion. Which is precisely the intended effect: it makes you judge the writer by the writing. > Anything he says is questionable, because their is no accountability. So you need to know who someone is to asses the reliability of what is said? That means you know little about the subject matter, and don't intend to learn more. It's okay most of the time. We can't know everything. But if you are looking at a thread here, that's probably because you're interested in the subject. In that case, not being able to judge a comment by itself would be unacceptable.

billswift 16y ago
Yes. Unless it is pure opinion, or you are willing to spend a lot of time tracking down references for what he wrote, then who the person is has a STRONG bearing on their reliability.
jasonlotito 16y ago
> Which is precisely the intended effect: it makes you judge the writer by the writing. It wouldn't be fair to judge non-native english speakers this way. However, if you are referring to what is being said, then it's not as easy as just reading what they wrote. Indeed, the majority of people out there can't discern reality from fantasy. I did a study on this 15 years ago, where it showed conclusively that presented with factual looking information, even professionals in the various fields were unable to discern fact from fiction on specific topics. ;) Simply put, without anything to verify this comment, you have to judge it purely on what is said. Accountability, credibility, attribute are all critical.
- loup-vaillant 16y ago
  Your study interests me. Do you have a link?
  - jasonlotito 16y ago
    No, I don't. I never did a study. =) You did, however, seek further credibility to backup my comment, which is the entire point. I do, however, remember reading about this at one point, and XKCD did a comic on the topic as well.
    - loup-vaillant 16y ago
      > You did, however, seek further credibility to backup my comment Actually, I didn't. I already trusted you about that study. I sought further information, because I was genuinely interested. Nevertheless, I think I see your point.
- nitrogen 16y ago
  It wouldn't be fair to judge non-native english speakers this way. It's sometimes possible to discern a poor writer from a non-native writer, but to be fair, I'll try to find out if a writer is non-native before commenting on their grammar or judging the post based on a mistake.

billswift 16y ago

Yes. Unless it is pure opinion, or you are willing to spend a lot of time tracking down references for what he wrote, then who the person is has a STRONG bearing on their reliability.

jasonlotito 16y ago

> Which is precisely the intended effect: it makes you judge the writer by the writing. It wouldn't be fair to judge non-native english speakers this way. However, if you are referring to what is being said, then it's not as easy as just reading what they wrote. Indeed, the majority of people out there can't discern reality from fantasy. I did a study on this 15 years ago, where it showed conclusively that presented with factual looking information, even professionals in the various fields were unable to discern fact from fiction on specific topics. ;) Simply put, without anything to verify this comment, you have to judge it purely on what is said. Accountability, credibility, attribute are all critical.

loup-vaillant 16y ago
Your study interests me. Do you have a link?
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  No, I don't. I never did a study. =) You did, however, seek further credibility to backup my comment, which is the entire point. I do, however, remember reading about this at one point, and XKCD did a comic on the topic as well.
  - loup-vaillant 16y ago
    > You did, however, seek further credibility to backup my comment Actually, I didn't. I already trusted you about that study. I sought further information, because I was genuinely interested. Nevertheless, I think I see your point.
nitrogen 16y ago
It wouldn't be fair to judge non-native english speakers this way. It's sometimes possible to discern a poor writer from a non-native writer, but to be fair, I'll try to find out if a writer is non-native before commenting on their grammar or judging the post based on a mistake.