4 ms·

It's generally much more helpful to say what's correct than what's wrong, if only because there are so many more ways to be wrong. Often when I see lists of "my

It's generally much more helpful to say what's correct than what's wrong, if only because there are so many more ways to be wrong. Often when I see lists of "myths", the "myths" are true or close enough most of the time, and are only harmfully wrong in rare circumstances. Getting rid of a flawed but workable model without having a better one to replace it with is not an improvement.

hwayne 7y ago
Or posing the statements as questions. Like instead of > Myth: People have unique names You write > Do people have unique names? > No, because XYZ. This varies by region because ABC. And in this case, this assumption caused a major production outage: [link] Turn it into a detailed discussion, as opposed to a debate. Also, you can share things that people _can_ assume to be true, or can _usually_ assume in specific contexts.
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Asking a question whose answer is no is almost as bad as a myth. Just state the true fact you want people to remember.
  - hwayne 7y ago
    Sometimes the answer is yes, though!
rurp 7y ago
In addition to myths being mostly true I've also seen articles with the opposite problem, where the myths are over-the-top wrong. One example I just saw was something like, "Myth #123, I don't have to worry about making my website accessible because none of my users are disabled".
gridlockd 7y ago
> It's generally much more helpful to say what's correct than what's wrong, if only because there are so many more ways to be wrong. So you should know what is correct before pointing out what is wrong? That doesn't sound right. > Getting rid of a flawed but workable model without having a better one to replace it with is not an improvement. This ignores the opportunity gained from not doing something. If "Myth Lists" aren't worth doing, not doing them is an improvement. You don't need to have a "better alternative", because "doing nothing" is already better. Having said that, the article doesn't exactly show that Myth Lists don't work. It's just an opinion of someone who read one of these lately and didn't like it.

hwayne 7y ago

Or posing the statements as questions. Like instead of > Myth: People have unique names You write > Do people have unique names? > No, because XYZ. This varies by region because ABC. And in this case, this assumption caused a major production outage: [link] Turn it into a detailed discussion, as opposed to a debate. Also, you can share things that people _can_ assume to be true, or can _usually_ assume in specific contexts.

lonelappde 7y ago
Asking a question whose answer is no is almost as bad as a myth. Just state the true fact you want people to remember.
- hwayne 7y ago
  Sometimes the answer is yes, though!

rurp 7y ago

In addition to myths being mostly true I've also seen articles with the opposite problem, where the myths are over-the-top wrong. One example I just saw was something like, "Myth #123, I don't have to worry about making my website accessible because none of my users are disabled".

gridlockd 7y ago

> It's generally much more helpful to say what's correct than what's wrong, if only because there are so many more ways to be wrong. So you should know what is correct before pointing out what is wrong? That doesn't sound right. > Getting rid of a flawed but workable model without having a better one to replace it with is not an improvement. This ignores the opportunity gained from not doing something. If "Myth Lists" aren't worth doing, not doing them is an improvement. You don't need to have a "better alternative", because "doing nothing" is already better. Having said that, the article doesn't exactly show that Myth Lists don't work. It's just an opinion of someone who read one of these lately and didn't like it.