11 ms·

>>> I did not mean to offend you, but can see that I have, and apologize for that. I should have known better. Reading his first comment, there is no way you w

• ngneer 3y ago
  Right. I think the "they're fucked" threw me off, because "they" sounds impersonal, as though talking about others without having had the personal experience. However, that very phrase should have alerted me to the fact that anyone who knows as much about the topic and uses strong language is very likely emotionally involved, and therefore it is wiser to tread lightly. This is what I should have known better, and will improve upon for next time.
• wpietri 3y ago
  Sure, but so what? In most of the world's conversations, if somebody talks about a thing, people tend to think, "Oh, maybe they know about the thing." Here on HN, though, and wherever reply guys roam free, you see a lot of the opposite. "I'll just assume I know way more about this than the person I'm going to run my mouth at." I don't think it should be my job to preemptively trot out my credentials every time I whip up a paragraph on something. Especially when, as here, those credentials are not only some of the most painful episodes in my life, but are also guaranteed conversational bombs. Instead, maybe we could have a norm of assuming that people aren't total idiots.