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> Anything you say before the word “but” does not count. Not sure I agree with this one at all. It irks me a lot when caveats I put in arguments are ignored, a
by prmph 5y ago
> Anything you say before the word “but” does not count.
Not sure I agree with this one at all. It irks me a lot when caveats I put in arguments are ignored, and the other party assumes that I don't really mean them. This happens a lot (even on HN, see the responses to my comments at [1] and [2]), and causes a lot of straw-man arguments and talking past each other.
Caveats are important and should not be ignored and should be evaluated on their own merits, because they could be an intrinsic part of the argument being made.
1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31156271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31156271
2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29185739 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29185739
- jmiskovic 5y agoThis is more of observation of communication culture that you should be aware of. The actual advice would read more like "if you want to draw attention to something, you better not follow it with a _but_". At least that's my reading.