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Not to disparage anyone but actually see this technical smartass stuff in the comments on HN all the time. Someone makes a good point then someone else nitpicks

Not to disparage anyone but actually see this technical smartass stuff in the comments on HN all the time. Someone makes a good point then someone else nitpicks the most irrelevant detail or pulls out the dictionary definition of the word even though the person's point is clear as day. I agree with the author on a lot of this and personally feel that this sort of thing is a sign of poor social skills and an inability to see different perspectives or the bigger picture. It can get pretty exhausting. It's funny that a number of comments on this story exemplify the author's point perfectly. Don't get me wrong though. Please don't take this as me complaining. I'm actually really happy with this community but you've got to admit that what the author is talking about goes on so often around here it's not even funny. Most of the time focusing on the technical details will get you nowhere but missing the point, totally off track, and arguing something very much unrelated to the original topic. Case in point: see the comments on the post about SpecialForces.com getting hacked. People started missing the point and talking about the user's password strength instead of what was really at issue (the security of the admin's access methods and credentials).

quanticle 15y ago
>Most of the time focusing on the technical details will get you nowhere but missing the point, totally off track, and arguing something very much unrelated to the original topic. That's true some of the time. A lot of the time, though, the technical details are important. Look at the SOPA hearings. The reason they were so cringe-inducing is because all of the technical details were glossed over. You had uninformed Congressmen hand-waving their way past very important questions of implementation and side-effects.
- billpatrianakos 15y ago
  Yeah. I guess you're right. But my point still stands otherwise. I can't really think of another way to word that eight now, it escapes me but you still know what I mean. I stand corrected on that point though.

quanticle 15y ago

>Most of the time focusing on the technical details will get you nowhere but missing the point, totally off track, and arguing something very much unrelated to the original topic. That's true some of the time. A lot of the time, though, the technical details are important. Look at the SOPA hearings. The reason they were so cringe-inducing is because all of the technical details were glossed over. You had uninformed Congressmen hand-waving their way past very important questions of implementation and side-effects.

billpatrianakos 15y ago
Yeah. I guess you're right. But my point still stands otherwise. I can't really think of another way to word that eight now, it escapes me but you still know what I mean. I stand corrected on that point though.