4 ms·

I'm not sure what's up with these people who go around commenting asking people to "define X" or "define Y" or "cite Z", but IMO it seems they generally have no

I'm not sure what's up with these people who go around commenting asking people to "define X" or "define Y" or "cite Z", but IMO it seems they generally have nothing interesting to say and aren't worth responding to. Just my 2c.

Buttons840 4y ago
Many arguments boil down to the definition of a word. Talking about definitions seems worthwhile. We've all heard there are facts and opinions, but there's a 3rd category I think: definitions.
- concordDance 4y ago
  > Many arguments boil down to the definition of a word. And this is awful :( It's normally the Worst Argument in the World: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yCWPkLi8wJvewPbEp/the-noncentral-fallacy-the-worst-argument-in-the-world https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yCWPkLi8wJvewPbEp/the-noncen... Arguing about whether a definition is particularly useful or outlines a cluster of similar things can be good, but it's rare.
- uejfiweun 4y ago
  The mods deleted the other thread, but basically what this guy was doing was Sealioning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning Certainly sometimes it's good to debate a word but this crossed the line into incessant requests for people to do work to come up with ever more definitions and citations.
middleclick 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago
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- deleted 4y ago
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- uejfiweun 4y ago
  My issue is with your style of debate, because it takes work to come up with these definitions and citations that you will inevitably disagree with. It's a waste of time. To imply that this means I am against civil rights, women's suffrage, and free speech... all I can say is go fuck yourself.
  - middleclick 4y ago
    Ouch, abuse? That usually means you have run out of arguments. Well, point proved, anyway.
    - dang 4y ago
      We've banned this account for using HN primarily (exclusively?) for flamewar and ideological battle. That's not allowed here, regardless of ideology, because it destroys what this site is supposed to be for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - dang 4y ago
    Flamewar comments like this are obviously completely unacceptable and will get you banned here. I'm not going to ban you right now, because you haven't been using HN primarily for this. Please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mixmastamyk 4y ago
  - middleclick 4y ago

Buttons840 4y ago

Many arguments boil down to the definition of a word. Talking about definitions seems worthwhile. We've all heard there are facts and opinions, but there's a 3rd category I think: definitions.

concordDance 4y ago
> Many arguments boil down to the definition of a word. And this is awful :( It's normally the Worst Argument in the World: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yCWPkLi8wJvewPbEp/the-noncentral-fallacy-the-worst-argument-in-the-world https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/yCWPkLi8wJvewPbEp/the-noncen... Arguing about whether a definition is particularly useful or outlines a cluster of similar things can be good, but it's rare.
uejfiweun 4y ago
The mods deleted the other thread, but basically what this guy was doing was Sealioning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning Certainly sometimes it's good to debate a word but this crossed the line into incessant requests for people to do work to come up with ever more definitions and citations.

middleclick 4y ago

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uejfiweun 4y ago
My issue is with your style of debate, because it takes work to come up with these definitions and citations that you will inevitably disagree with. It's a waste of time. To imply that this means I am against civil rights, women's suffrage, and free speech... all I can say is go fuck yourself.
- middleclick 4y ago
  Ouch, abuse? That usually means you have run out of arguments. Well, point proved, anyway.
  - dang 4y ago
    We've banned this account for using HN primarily (exclusively?) for flamewar and ideological battle. That's not allowed here, regardless of ideology, because it destroys what this site is supposed to be for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dang 4y ago
  Flamewar comments like this are obviously completely unacceptable and will get you banned here. I'm not going to ban you right now, because you haven't been using HN primarily for this. Please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
mixmastamyk 4y ago
- middleclick 4y ago