3 ms·

Different people have different opinions.

by randomdata 5y ago

ceejayoz 5y ago
Sure, but sometimes, individual people hold contradictory opinions that should be occasionally examined.
- randomdata 5y ago
  Perhaps, but HN incentivizes comments that will produce a reaction (votes, replies). You cannot read too much into what someone wrote here. "Facebook must censor all the things!" and "We need a decentralized Facebook so that censorship is impossible!" are not at odds with each other when the goal is to receive a reaction in return, assuming the author has found that those comments produce the reaction they seek. When someone is being truly genuine, I do not believe you will find that contradiction. It is possible that you may not have entirely understood what they have written, and looking for clarification may be worthwhile. Still, given the above, it is not likely worth your time. In places where there is incentive to be genuine, more exploration can be worth it.
  - Y_Y 5y ago
    FWIW I try to avoid working like that. Shouting into the void seems perverse to me, and I definitely enjoy having some signal of engagement and approval when I post something. That said, I try to suspend my disbelief regarding the impossibility of fighting the current and so try to be a good citizen in order to maintain a good city. I'm sure Plato or Kant or has written extensively about this, and dang seemed to approve when I discussed it with him in a separate venue. So now that I've spent lots of years lurking, some more years posting and plenty of time screaming into the darkness elsewhere, I can feel satisfied if I post something that I know is interesting or helpful, even if I don't get any external feedback. (I'm reminded of the whole descent-to-madness that certain areas have academia have undergone for the sake of bibliometrics. See e.g. Peter Higgs' comments: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/06/peter-higgs-boson-academic-system https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/06/peter-higgs-... )
- lugged 5y ago
  In my experience this is rarely the case. It's much more likely you're misunderstanding their position or missing some undisclosed nuance. Often I find this just comes down to most people lacking the vocabulary or ability to refine their positions consicely enough to form coherent and non contradictory positions. If you take the time to work through their contrictory statements with them you'll likely find there was no contradiction in their mind, instead, there was just some nuance that got lost in translation.
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    My experience has been the opposite; that people are great at making excuses for entirely contradictory sets of opinions they deeply hold.
    - lugged 5y ago
      This is usually a sign they don't really have the ability to define their position conscisely enough. There are a lot of stupid people in the world, but most of them are able to see reason if a) they're willing, and b) you're willing to help them get there. The problem is that you're probably not going to get the answer you want so you have little incentive to put in the effort.
- fouric 5y ago
  Yes, but I don't see any indication whatsoever that GGP had actually examined contradictory comments from the same users - just a general complaint based on a vague feeling.

Different people have different opinions.

ceejayoz 5y ago

Sure, but sometimes, individual people hold contradictory opinions that should be occasionally examined.

randomdata 5y ago
Perhaps, but HN incentivizes comments that will produce a reaction (votes, replies). You cannot read too much into what someone wrote here. "Facebook must censor all the things!" and "We need a decentralized Facebook so that censorship is impossible!" are not at odds with each other when the goal is to receive a reaction in return, assuming the author has found that those comments produce the reaction they seek. When someone is being truly genuine, I do not believe you will find that contradiction. It is possible that you may not have entirely understood what they have written, and looking for clarification may be worthwhile. Still, given the above, it is not likely worth your time. In places where there is incentive to be genuine, more exploration can be worth it.
- Y_Y 5y ago
  FWIW I try to avoid working like that. Shouting into the void seems perverse to me, and I definitely enjoy having some signal of engagement and approval when I post something. That said, I try to suspend my disbelief regarding the impossibility of fighting the current and so try to be a good citizen in order to maintain a good city. I'm sure Plato or Kant or has written extensively about this, and dang seemed to approve when I discussed it with him in a separate venue. So now that I've spent lots of years lurking, some more years posting and plenty of time screaming into the darkness elsewhere, I can feel satisfied if I post something that I know is interesting or helpful, even if I don't get any external feedback. (I'm reminded of the whole descent-to-madness that certain areas have academia have undergone for the sake of bibliometrics. See e.g. Peter Higgs' comments: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/06/peter-higgs-boson-academic-system https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/06/peter-higgs-... )
lugged 5y ago
In my experience this is rarely the case. It's much more likely you're misunderstanding their position or missing some undisclosed nuance. Often I find this just comes down to most people lacking the vocabulary or ability to refine their positions consicely enough to form coherent and non contradictory positions. If you take the time to work through their contrictory statements with them you'll likely find there was no contradiction in their mind, instead, there was just some nuance that got lost in translation.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  My experience has been the opposite; that people are great at making excuses for entirely contradictory sets of opinions they deeply hold.
  - lugged 5y ago
    This is usually a sign they don't really have the ability to define their position conscisely enough. There are a lot of stupid people in the world, but most of them are able to see reason if a) they're willing, and b) you're willing to help them get there. The problem is that you're probably not going to get the answer you want so you have little incentive to put in the effort.
fouric 5y ago
Yes, but I don't see any indication whatsoever that GGP had actually examined contradictory comments from the same users - just a general complaint based on a vague feeling.