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One problem with internet debates is the debators only ever know about the people they're debating. Rarely will you convince your "opponent," but you'll probab
by vharuck 8y ago
One problem with internet debates is the debators only ever know about the people they're debating. Rarely will you convince your "opponent," but you'll probably have an impact on people who read but don't comment. You're debating for the audience.
This is also why people should challenge others in public when needed. Your boss might not change his ways, but your colleagues could.
- mlthoughts2018 8y agoI agree with you very much, but you do learn something about your audience by observing what is up-voted, down-voted or flagged, and what responses moderators provide. In general I find those things to be very personally discouraging on Hacker News. It’s a community I’d like to belong to, but feel that when I abide very carefully by the community standard of discourse, I still receive punitive downvotes for disagreeing with crowdthink or receive canned moderator responses that don’t explain the specific mechanics by which a comment is considered failing to meet guidelines, with no serious appeals process when you believe you’re being treated unfairly.