3 ms·

Had I better not ask what something means?

shlant 6y ago
nothing wrong with asking, but you might want to consider that your bias is heavily influencing your perspective of science. You make some valid points about the replication bias, profit motives etc. but throwing the baby out with the bath water and then claiming that anecdotes are somehow more reliable shows a lack of nuance in response to a very complex topic.
- feralimal 6y ago
  Yes - I think I knew what n=1 is/was. There were 2 reasons I asked the question. Firstly, I don't like 'inside baseball' talk. In fact we are not at a science convention - it is a public forum. Secondly, I want to know what the poster means by it. The last sentence where they say: "those where not tested because again N=1" - that doesn't make sense.
DoreenMichele 6y ago
Discussion here is serious discussion. It's not people shooting the breeze. Low value comments are actively discouraged. HN is not very transparent in some respects. It may not be obvious if someone is new here that a lot of people here have significant expertise in various domains. So coming here is not like wandering into a coffee shop where random people are shooting the breeze and doing that "armchair politician" thing, though it may seem like it is. It's more like wandering into some academic club at some major university and joining the discussion without having to be enrolled in the university because they have some extreme inclusive policy. You have more or less told everyone here "Doctors and scientists are all dumb! And furthermore I know better than them!" and then asked "What does N=1 mean?" You are basically attacking and insulting a lot of the people you are addressing and then asking them to explain their field to you after having just dismissed them. It's always okay to ask what something means, but a best practice is to google the question first, especially for something simple/basic. (Granted, googling doesn't always turn up a good explanation -- some things are surprisingly hard to google.) However, sometimes all that does is signal that you don't really know what you are talking about and can't back up your strongly stated position. And that's what's going on here in terms of social dynamics.

nothing wrong with asking, but you might want to consider that your bias is heavily influencing your perspective of science. You make some valid points about the replication bias, profit motives etc. but throwing the baby out with the bath water and then claiming that anecdotes are somehow more reliable shows a lack of nuance in response to a very complex topic.

feralimal 6y ago
Yes - I think I knew what n=1 is/was. There were 2 reasons I asked the question. Firstly, I don't like 'inside baseball' talk. In fact we are not at a science convention - it is a public forum. Secondly, I want to know what the poster means by it. The last sentence where they say: "those where not tested because again N=1" - that doesn't make sense.

DoreenMichele 6y ago

Discussion here is serious discussion. It's not people shooting the breeze. Low value comments are actively discouraged. HN is not very transparent in some respects. It may not be obvious if someone is new here that a lot of people here have significant expertise in various domains. So coming here is not like wandering into a coffee shop where random people are shooting the breeze and doing that "armchair politician" thing, though it may seem like it is. It's more like wandering into some academic club at some major university and joining the discussion without having to be enrolled in the university because they have some extreme inclusive policy. You have more or less told everyone here "Doctors and scientists are all dumb! And furthermore I know better than them!" and then asked "What does N=1 mean?" You are basically attacking and insulting a lot of the people you are addressing and then asking them to explain their field to you after having just dismissed them. It's always okay to ask what something means, but a best practice is to google the question first, especially for something simple/basic. (Granted, googling doesn't always turn up a good explanation -- some things are surprisingly hard to google.) However, sometimes all that does is signal that you don't really know what you are talking about and can't back up your strongly stated position. And that's what's going on here in terms of social dynamics.