3 ms·

please never put text like "You may not believe this, ..." or anything similar in technical documentation, blogs and similar making assumptions about what ot

please never put text like "You may not believe this, ..." or anything similar in technical documentation, blogs and similar making assumptions about what other people think (or say) is belittling/impolite it's also stylistically has a bit of a "sensationalist" touch, which just makes it feel misplaced in this kind of articles IMHO

mrkeen 3y ago
Likewise with "IMHO". https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=90305 https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=90305
- dathinab 3y ago
  yes for a blog or similar technical article but practically there is a difference between thinks people believe are objectively true and things which they are less sure about or find quite subjective IMHO and AFIK are like an emoji they add additional subtle context and should in no way be read literally like emoji they do not belong in technical articles, but are normal in more short form text conversations
sambeau 3y ago
I found that statement to be the most informative part of the document. It made me stop and consider it as, yes, I wouldn't have believed it until it was so explicitly pointed out. Science is full of authors supposing what other people believe and then surprising them with their findings. "Remarkably", "perhaps unintuitively", "convention states", "a striking consequence", "a surprising result", … You may not believe this, but here's Feynman making assumptions about what other people think: Because atomic behavior is so unlike ordinary experience, it is very difficult to get used to, and it appears peculiar and mysterious to everyone—both to the novice and to the experienced physicist. Even the experts do not understand it the way they would like to, and it is perfectly reasonable that they should not, because all of direct, human experience and of human intuition applies to large objects. Here's Newton using "which is an erroneous Supposition", his version of "you may not believe this": Are not all Hypotheses erroneous, in which Light is supposed to consist in Pression or Motion, propagated through a fluid Medium? For in all these Hypotheses the Phaenomena of Light have been hitherto explain'd by supposing that they arise from new Modifications of the Rays; which is an erroneous Supposition. As Albert Einstein wrote: The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. It is for this reason that the critical thinking of the physicist cannot possibly be restricted to the examination of the concepts of his own specific field. He cannot proceed without considering critically a much more difficult problem, the problem of analyzing the nature of everyday thinking. How can you do that without making assumptions about what other people think?
- dathinab 3y ago
  > "Remarkably", "perhaps unintuitively", "convention states", "a striking consequence", "a surprising result", are very different to "You may not believe this," because they don't say "you" they state it in a general way which is ambiguous about weather it was e.g. "remarkable" for them or many they know so they don't make assumption about every specific reader, instead they make assumptions about themself and/or readers in general The examples you state all are different and in my opinion miss the point. In no case do they say "you ..." or anything close to this. It's always in a genericway. In other words "even experts will find it peculiar", "theories of this kind are erroneous", "he - as in a generic scientist - needs to consider something".
YeGoblynQueenne 3y ago
Your comment is fair but you disregard the possibility that the author is trying to avoid some attitude he has previously encountered. Given the subject matter, I think that's the likeliest explanation.

mrkeen 3y ago

Likewise with "IMHO". https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=90305 https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=90305

dathinab 3y ago
yes for a blog or similar technical article but practically there is a difference between thinks people believe are objectively true and things which they are less sure about or find quite subjective IMHO and AFIK are like an emoji they add additional subtle context and should in no way be read literally like emoji they do not belong in technical articles, but are normal in more short form text conversations

sambeau 3y ago

I found that statement to be the most informative part of the document. It made me stop and consider it as, yes, I wouldn't have believed it until it was so explicitly pointed out. Science is full of authors supposing what other people believe and then surprising them with their findings. "Remarkably", "perhaps unintuitively", "convention states", "a striking consequence", "a surprising result", … You may not believe this, but here's Feynman making assumptions about what other people think: Because atomic behavior is so unlike ordinary experience, it is very difficult to get used to, and it appears peculiar and mysterious to everyone—both to the novice and to the experienced physicist. Even the experts do not understand it the way they would like to, and it is perfectly reasonable that they should not, because all of direct, human experience and of human intuition applies to large objects. Here's Newton using "which is an erroneous Supposition", his version of "you may not believe this": Are not all Hypotheses erroneous, in which Light is supposed to consist in Pression or Motion, propagated through a fluid Medium? For in all these Hypotheses the Phaenomena of Light have been hitherto explain'd by supposing that they arise from new Modifications of the Rays; which is an erroneous Supposition. As Albert Einstein wrote: The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. It is for this reason that the critical thinking of the physicist cannot possibly be restricted to the examination of the concepts of his own specific field. He cannot proceed without considering critically a much more difficult problem, the problem of analyzing the nature of everyday thinking. How can you do that without making assumptions about what other people think?

dathinab 3y ago
> "Remarkably", "perhaps unintuitively", "convention states", "a striking consequence", "a surprising result", are very different to "You may not believe this," because they don't say "you" they state it in a general way which is ambiguous about weather it was e.g. "remarkable" for them or many they know so they don't make assumption about every specific reader, instead they make assumptions about themself and/or readers in general The examples you state all are different and in my opinion miss the point. In no case do they say "you ..." or anything close to this. It's always in a genericway. In other words "even experts will find it peculiar", "theories of this kind are erroneous", "he - as in a generic scientist - needs to consider something".

YeGoblynQueenne 3y ago

Your comment is fair but you disregard the possibility that the author is trying to avoid some attitude he has previously encountered. Given the subject matter, I think that's the likeliest explanation.