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Come on, this is Show HN! Not some GitHub issue tracker. Try to insert please and thank you in that post ... it will make it sound rude! It will turn it from Sh

by dagss 9y ago

Come on, this is Show HN! Not some GitHub issue tracker. Try to insert please and thank you in that post ... it will make it sound rude! It will turn it from Show HN feedback to sounding like a feature request, which it is clearly not...

alehul 9y ago
You're right that please and thank you could come off as sarcastic or a bit odd in a comment section like this. The best route is probably to clarify that it seems like a good concept, and you think that adding x and y would be the best features to focus on that would make it even better.
corobo 9y ago
Just adding "Could you" to the start (and change first sentence's . to ?) would make a world of difference
- baddox 9y ago
  If you can automatically detect sentences where adding "Could you" would make the author sound more tactful, then why not just mentally add them and assume that the author intended to sound that tactful? This is a slight modification of the principle of charity, something I think is incredibly important and underemphasized, especially for online text communication.
  - jaitaiwan 9y ago
    That's a really cool concept. Write a medium article about it.
    - indigodaddy 9y ago
      I can't tell of this is disengenuous or not..
      - BrandonM 9y ago
        I think that's the point.
  - Lxr 9y ago
    The link in your profile is broken, FYI.
  - IncRnd 9y ago
    > why not just mentally add them and assume that the author intended to sound that tactful? Because, that could be the wrong action to take. Could you, Would you, Will you, I want you to, You should, The project is stupid unless you, etc. Therefore, the author should communicate well enough to be understood.
    - baddox 9y ago
      Based on the thread here, many people interpreted the comment as a well-intended feature request, but instead of requesting the commenter to change their comment, it seems like it would’ve been fine to just use that charitable interpretation.
      - IntronExon 9y ago
        I’m all for being charitable in our interpretations of the motives of others, but I think a total lack of the most basic courtesy should be seen for what it is. The lower end of the spectrum being lazy, and the high end being rude, even charitably no positive interpretation exists IMO.
  - IntronExon 9y ago
    Please and thank you are such basic concepts that honestly, I judge the hell out of people who don’t seem capable of it regardless of platform. If that minimal degree of politeness isn’t reflexive for you, again, the world at large judges you. Not to put too fine a point on it, but maybe “why not add it in your head” is the kind of thing thst gives some in tech a bad name? It costs nothing to be polite.
    - Heikki0 9y ago
      This is a bit off topic, but just to blow ones mind: Finnish, which I am natively speaking, is lacking direct "please" word completely and I have to admit that especially orally I forget it often. (We make things sound nice by conditional, "could you", "would you be so kind" etc..) I have no immediate reaction what so ever how it would feel if someone left out "please". I understand the concept, but it feels horrible how much wrong I can go with native English speakers without meaning it. Thanks for the reminder! (thank you we do have;)
      - IntronExon 9y ago
        That’s not off-topic at all! Honestly, I’m ashamed that I hadn’t considered the possibility of a non-native speaker’s linguistic quirks, and what this tells me is that I need to continue to work on my snap-judgements. Thank you for reminding me that languages don’t handle courtesy the same way.
        Heikki0 9y ago
        This was really nice to hear! Don't worry, one can only think through ones own mind =) I think this already helps, if everybody are just a bit more aware about that others might think differently, and not be deliberately mean. I have learned several languages, since Finnish is very useless in a large scale, and it always amazes me how in different languages it is also thought differently. I can only recommend!

by dagss 9y ago

alehul 9y ago

You're right that please and thank you could come off as sarcastic or a bit odd in a comment section like this. The best route is probably to clarify that it seems like a good concept, and you think that adding x and y would be the best features to focus on that would make it even better.

corobo 9y ago

Just adding "Could you" to the start (and change first sentence's . to ?) would make a world of difference

baddox 9y ago
If you can automatically detect sentences where adding "Could you" would make the author sound more tactful, then why not just mentally add them and assume that the author intended to sound that tactful? This is a slight modification of the principle of charity, something I think is incredibly important and underemphasized, especially for online text communication.
- jaitaiwan 9y ago
  That's a really cool concept. Write a medium article about it.
  - indigodaddy 9y ago
    I can't tell of this is disengenuous or not..
    - BrandonM 9y ago
      I think that's the point.
- Lxr 9y ago
  The link in your profile is broken, FYI.
- IncRnd 9y ago
  > why not just mentally add them and assume that the author intended to sound that tactful? Because, that could be the wrong action to take. Could you, Would you, Will you, I want you to, You should, The project is stupid unless you, etc. Therefore, the author should communicate well enough to be understood.
  - baddox 9y ago
    Based on the thread here, many people interpreted the comment as a well-intended feature request, but instead of requesting the commenter to change their comment, it seems like it would’ve been fine to just use that charitable interpretation.
    - IntronExon 9y ago
      I’m all for being charitable in our interpretations of the motives of others, but I think a total lack of the most basic courtesy should be seen for what it is. The lower end of the spectrum being lazy, and the high end being rude, even charitably no positive interpretation exists IMO.
- IntronExon 9y ago
  Please and thank you are such basic concepts that honestly, I judge the hell out of people who don’t seem capable of it regardless of platform. If that minimal degree of politeness isn’t reflexive for you, again, the world at large judges you. Not to put too fine a point on it, but maybe “why not add it in your head” is the kind of thing thst gives some in tech a bad name? It costs nothing to be polite.
  - Heikki0 9y ago
    This is a bit off topic, but just to blow ones mind: Finnish, which I am natively speaking, is lacking direct "please" word completely and I have to admit that especially orally I forget it often. (We make things sound nice by conditional, "could you", "would you be so kind" etc..) I have no immediate reaction what so ever how it would feel if someone left out "please". I understand the concept, but it feels horrible how much wrong I can go with native English speakers without meaning it. Thanks for the reminder! (thank you we do have;)
    - IntronExon 9y ago
      That’s not off-topic at all! Honestly, I’m ashamed that I hadn’t considered the possibility of a non-native speaker’s linguistic quirks, and what this tells me is that I need to continue to work on my snap-judgements. Thank you for reminding me that languages don’t handle courtesy the same way.
      - Heikki0 9y ago
        This was really nice to hear! Don't worry, one can only think through ones own mind =) I think this already helps, if everybody are just a bit more aware about that others might think differently, and not be deliberately mean. I have learned several languages, since Finnish is very useless in a large scale, and it always amazes me how in different languages it is also thought differently. I can only recommend!