4 ms·

I think this question is fundamentally misguided by being about pedants. If you look at the definition of pedant [0], it mentions people who are concerned with

I think this question is fundamentally misguided by being about pedants. If you look at the definition of pedant [0], it mentions people who are concerned with minor details but nitpicking [1], which you refer to in your first example, is more specifically about finding faults, so in reality you are looking for a forum _with_ pedants (who have enough knowledge about the minor details to answer your question), but _without_ the nitpickers, who focus too much on finding fault. Hope that helps :) /s, but like others said I think it does get to the heart of the problem where only people who get a kick out of pointing out flaws in small details in their free time hang around on technical forums. [0] a person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning. [1] fussy or pedantic fault-finding.

ryandrake 4y ago
Problem is, nit-picking is the bread and butter of mid-level software engineers, and it becomes engrained in their psyche. If your 50,000 line code base has one wrong negative sign, or one missing brace, it might not work. So, the focus is on detailed perfection until the bugs are gone. Being pedantic about problem solving is a good thing! Then they take this mentality to human interaction/conversation and turn into the insufferable nit-pickers that OP is complaining about. You write a 3 paragraph comment in a web forum like HN, and someone inevitably swoops in, ignoring your main point to argue: "Aha! On paragraph 2, line 5, you said 'all' but probably meant 'many' because I can clearly find counter-example A, B, and C. Therefore your entire comment is incorrect!"
- throwaway288862 4y ago
  But it's not generally accepted to have such a one track mind, to apply the requirements of some part of your work, to every human interaction. There are many professions that require absolute attention to detail in many situations, and lawyers and chemists and microbiologists, even other STEM fields are perfectly capable of not being insufferable pedants in human interaction, and can choose an appropriate level of detail depending on the situation.
taylodl 4y ago
That was awesome! You almost had me until I saw the /s. Good job!

ryandrake 4y ago

Problem is, nit-picking is the bread and butter of mid-level software engineers, and it becomes engrained in their psyche. If your 50,000 line code base has one wrong negative sign, or one missing brace, it might not work. So, the focus is on detailed perfection until the bugs are gone. Being pedantic about problem solving is a good thing! Then they take this mentality to human interaction/conversation and turn into the insufferable nit-pickers that OP is complaining about. You write a 3 paragraph comment in a web forum like HN, and someone inevitably swoops in, ignoring your main point to argue: "Aha! On paragraph 2, line 5, you said 'all' but probably meant 'many' because I can clearly find counter-example A, B, and C. Therefore your entire comment is incorrect!"

throwaway288862 4y ago
But it's not generally accepted to have such a one track mind, to apply the requirements of some part of your work, to every human interaction. There are many professions that require absolute attention to detail in many situations, and lawyers and chemists and microbiologists, even other STEM fields are perfectly capable of not being insufferable pedants in human interaction, and can choose an appropriate level of detail depending on the situation.

taylodl 4y ago

That was awesome! You almost had me until I saw the /s. Good job!