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"I don't mean to be" easily translates into "There's a hell of a long conversation here, with a lot of qualifiers, but frankly I don't have the time for it. Ins

"I don't mean to be" easily translates into "There's a hell of a long conversation here, with a lot of qualifiers, but frankly I don't have the time for it. Instead I'm just going to offer some generalization that you can easily throw rocks at. I know that you will, and now I'm telling you to have fun with it." So if I say "I don't mean to be old grumpy guy" that means that what comes out of my mouth next will be a generalization and summary of my feelings that I fully know for all intents and purposes sounds like old grumpy guy. Sorry, can't be helped. That's the way the summary looks. Most of the time people do not use such linguistic qualifiers out of some desire for self-protection or having some mechanism to inoculate them from some horrible thing that follows. It's simply a shortcut. I always thought this was pretty obvious. I know pg posted this, and it's his site, but is there really something here worthy of this being on the front page? Is this some kind of clever editorial about the quality of the commenting? If so, I don't get it. People are trying to be nice about their criticisms?

cbs 15y ago
I think you're onto something here. Its hard to give an honest opinion without sounding like an asshole or whatever you put at the end of "I don't mean to be". Even moreso when you're on HN. Its quick discussion, even though we're all techies we don't have all the domain knowledge and the different cultures here doesn't always approach things from the same standpoint.
slewis 15y ago
If you're about to submit a comment containing "I don't mean to be", stop and consider whether what you're submitting adds any value (as defined by the HN guidelines in this case) to the conversation. This is telling: "There's a hell of a long conversation here, with a lot of qualifiers, but frankly I don't have the time for it." If you don't have time to contribute something meaningful why contribute at all? The other problem with "I don't mean to be" is it's fundamentally dishonest. If you don't mean to then why are you doing it? If you must do this, just say "I'm about to be".
- Dylan16807 15y ago
  Using more words to say the same thing isn't necessarily being 'meaningful'. Especially when it's just to prevent a misunderstanding of intent. Intent is not nearly as important as the point being made.
- Tichy 15y ago
  It has to be possible to voice dissent, though. If I post something for review on hn, I want honest opinions, not flattery.

cbs 15y ago

I think you're onto something here. Its hard to give an honest opinion without sounding like an asshole or whatever you put at the end of "I don't mean to be". Even moreso when you're on HN. Its quick discussion, even though we're all techies we don't have all the domain knowledge and the different cultures here doesn't always approach things from the same standpoint.

slewis 15y ago

If you're about to submit a comment containing "I don't mean to be", stop and consider whether what you're submitting adds any value (as defined by the HN guidelines in this case) to the conversation. This is telling: "There's a hell of a long conversation here, with a lot of qualifiers, but frankly I don't have the time for it." If you don't have time to contribute something meaningful why contribute at all? The other problem with "I don't mean to be" is it's fundamentally dishonest. If you don't mean to then why are you doing it? If you must do this, just say "I'm about to be".

Dylan16807 15y ago
Using more words to say the same thing isn't necessarily being 'meaningful'. Especially when it's just to prevent a misunderstanding of intent. Intent is not nearly as important as the point being made.
Tichy 15y ago
It has to be possible to voice dissent, though. If I post something for review on hn, I want honest opinions, not flattery.