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> He didn't get banned for saying the earth was flat, he was banned for calling people morons and idiots. No he didn't? > Long story short, I called a few peo

> He didn't get banned for saying the earth was flat, he was banned for calling people morons and idiots. No he didn't? > Long story short, I called a few people idiots and a few others morons. I got a warning about that, acknowledged it, and stopped referring to the people who believe the earth is flat as idiots and morons. > After my warning, I was an excellent Quora user. I was courteous, even to people who completely disregard science, and I watched my language. Don’t get me wrong — I still interacted with flat earthers and I still told them they were wrong. I just sought not to violate the Quora Policies and Guidelines as I did it. > But it seems as if my answers angered the flat earthers, no matter how courteous I was. Sounds like the banning came long after he ceased insulting people.

CJefferson 6y ago
The thing he was banned for was linking to an article he wrote which claimed "... Team Flat Earth will be shown to be the moronic fools they indeed are". I mean, I agree that Team Flat Earth are moronic fools, but if you've agreed to be polite that isn't it.
- throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
  If possible, I find it always worthwhile sitting down with people who hold odd views and try to understand them. Maybe not even directly (why the earth is flat) but the underlying reason (anti-science? ignorance? desire to be part of a special out-group?). Plain stupidity may not be the real story. Edit: sheer stupidity is not out of the question of course.
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    Why do you think it is worthwhile? For your general culture/curiosity?
    - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
      Understanding other people. First, it's plain interesting to discover if they hold the view with some merit instead of stupidity[0]. Second, I guess it's polite to listen when you can, and my manners could do with some improving. Third and perhaps most compelling, the better you understand them the better you might be able to counter their arguments. Fourthly, in the rare event they actually can make a solid case case for their side, you may learn something important. [0] Yesterday (FYI I'm in the UK) there was a discussion in a shop by staff with a woman who didn't want to wear a face mask (they are compulsory starting today, yesterday they were not). She said they didn't help to protect you from covid so she didn't see why she should. I told her that was true but they weren't intended to protect you from viruses, they were to prevent infected people from spreading it to others. It was clear from her reaction she hadn't known this. Therefore she made up her mind without doing the least research. That's stupidity.
      - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
        > Understanding other people I used to do that too - with religion. Then I stopped because I believe that there are fundamental differences between rational and irrational people. The volume is on the side of the irrational ones, so I gave up. I am better off avoiding these subjects now, as nobody ever convinced anybody. > Therefore she made up her mind without doing the least research. That's stupidity I am French and our news (following official governmental information) told us that masks are useless, then dangerous, then somehow useful, then life-saving. Someone who is not that interested in the subject may have heard one of these opinions. I am in the same boat when it comes to climate change and Brexit. There are zillions of opinions, but none of the ones I heard are clear cut. I have a PhD in physics so I love numbers and equations. I am also painfully rational and yet I hear that the climate is warming globally, but this doe snot mean that this is visible on the small scale of my city, and then that in average the temperature of seas is raising, but the sea during my vacation is still cold. And why it matters that +2° here or there makes a difference. Same for Brexit: this is an economic disaster, or a godsend - depending on whom you listen to. But nobody gives actual numbers. When I look at the EU budget, I see that the UK is a net payer. So UK leaving is bad for us, good for them. Except that it si not, because something. I am not an expert in climate and in economy. And I do not want to be. I am open to having a well bundled rational set of information (and consequences) - it is just that I do not see them. For things like Brexit or climate change, they should be stuffed into my eyes daily. When people start to wave hands instead of giving a few accurate and unbiased numbers, I conclude that they simply do not know, or are not sure. BTW, the best, understandable argument about climate change was given to me by, who else, xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1732/ https://xkcd.com/1732/, https://xkcd.com/1379/ https://xkcd.com/1379/ and a few others.
dang 6y ago
I can tell you from years of experience that people make up all kinds of stories about why they were banned. Often the stories are very convincing to third parties. That's not surprising, because they're designed to be. The thing to check is whether there are links to the original posts, which would allow readers to make up their own minds. If the "$site banned me for $outrageous-can-you-believe-it-reason" story is linkless, odds are that salient details have been omitted. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20readers%20own%20minds%20link&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- TulliusCicero 6y ago
  That's a plausible explanation, but so is "enough people reported me that I got autobanned". For an equivalent, there are some subreddits that auto remove/lock threads if they get reported enough.

CJefferson 6y ago

The thing he was banned for was linking to an article he wrote which claimed "... Team Flat Earth will be shown to be the moronic fools they indeed are". I mean, I agree that Team Flat Earth are moronic fools, but if you've agreed to be polite that isn't it.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
If possible, I find it always worthwhile sitting down with people who hold odd views and try to understand them. Maybe not even directly (why the earth is flat) but the underlying reason (anti-science? ignorance? desire to be part of a special out-group?). Plain stupidity may not be the real story. Edit: sheer stupidity is not out of the question of course.
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  Why do you think it is worthwhile? For your general culture/curiosity?
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    Understanding other people. First, it's plain interesting to discover if they hold the view with some merit instead of stupidity[0]. Second, I guess it's polite to listen when you can, and my manners could do with some improving. Third and perhaps most compelling, the better you understand them the better you might be able to counter their arguments. Fourthly, in the rare event they actually can make a solid case case for their side, you may learn something important. [0] Yesterday (FYI I'm in the UK) there was a discussion in a shop by staff with a woman who didn't want to wear a face mask (they are compulsory starting today, yesterday they were not). She said they didn't help to protect you from covid so she didn't see why she should. I told her that was true but they weren't intended to protect you from viruses, they were to prevent infected people from spreading it to others. It was clear from her reaction she hadn't known this. Therefore she made up her mind without doing the least research. That's stupidity.
    - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
      > Understanding other people I used to do that too - with religion. Then I stopped because I believe that there are fundamental differences between rational and irrational people. The volume is on the side of the irrational ones, so I gave up. I am better off avoiding these subjects now, as nobody ever convinced anybody. > Therefore she made up her mind without doing the least research. That's stupidity I am French and our news (following official governmental information) told us that masks are useless, then dangerous, then somehow useful, then life-saving. Someone who is not that interested in the subject may have heard one of these opinions. I am in the same boat when it comes to climate change and Brexit. There are zillions of opinions, but none of the ones I heard are clear cut. I have a PhD in physics so I love numbers and equations. I am also painfully rational and yet I hear that the climate is warming globally, but this doe snot mean that this is visible on the small scale of my city, and then that in average the temperature of seas is raising, but the sea during my vacation is still cold. And why it matters that +2° here or there makes a difference. Same for Brexit: this is an economic disaster, or a godsend - depending on whom you listen to. But nobody gives actual numbers. When I look at the EU budget, I see that the UK is a net payer. So UK leaving is bad for us, good for them. Except that it si not, because something. I am not an expert in climate and in economy. And I do not want to be. I am open to having a well bundled rational set of information (and consequences) - it is just that I do not see them. For things like Brexit or climate change, they should be stuffed into my eyes daily. When people start to wave hands instead of giving a few accurate and unbiased numbers, I conclude that they simply do not know, or are not sure. BTW, the best, understandable argument about climate change was given to me by, who else, xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1732/ https://xkcd.com/1732/, https://xkcd.com/1379/ https://xkcd.com/1379/ and a few others.

dang 6y ago

I can tell you from years of experience that people make up all kinds of stories about why they were banned. Often the stories are very convincing to third parties. That's not surprising, because they're designed to be. The thing to check is whether there are links to the original posts, which would allow readers to make up their own minds. If the "$site banned me for $outrageous-can-you-believe-it-reason" story is linkless, odds are that salient details have been omitted. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20readers%20own%20minds%20link&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

TulliusCicero 6y ago
That's a plausible explanation, but so is "enough people reported me that I got autobanned". For an equivalent, there are some subreddits that auto remove/lock threads if they get reported enough.