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It should include those quotes if you are asserting that I said it.
by kasey_junk 9y ago
It should include those quotes if you are asserting that I said it.
- pvg 9y agoThe HN rule is never use quotes to say something someone didn't say. It seems, unless I'm misunderstanding you, you agree this is a silly rule.
- tptacek 9y agoI don't think that's the rule? I think the rule is if you're using quotes and it's ambiguous as to whether the person the quotes are attributed to actually said it, then the person better have actually said it. (For what it's worth: this little subthread is about 10x more interesting than the story and the rest of the thread it's attached to).
- pvg 9y agoThat's as generous an interpretation of the rule as mine is overly literal. But it's worth comparing it to some of the other rules: Don't be an ass. Don't call other people asses. Don't complain about votes. And then: Some weird thing about quotes we can't even sort out as well-intentioned nerds who love to talk about rules. I don't think that's a good rule. I think what it's trying to address is probably a good rule. But it's addressing it in the dumbest possible way.
- tptacek 9y agoIt is also the case that this was something Paul Graham was idiosyncratically peevish about; at one point, he attempted a unified definition of trolling that amounted to "forcing one to rebut something they hadn't said" --- which obviously isn't the definition of trolling.
- pvg 9y agoYep, 'idiosyncratic' is a good way to summarize it. At the end of the day, it's just another dumb thing to yell at people about - it doesn't improve discourse or 'stimulate intellectual curiosity'. As an inveterate rule-yeller myself, the fewer of these the better.
- mirimir 9y agoYes, but then you should include something like "might as well have said". Or "like".