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> Inclusivity […] Unfortunately. (Moderators occasionally unkill such threads if they see it in time, although it rarely sticks). Why would this be described a
by Y-bar 3y ago
> Inclusivity […] Unfortunately. (Moderators occasionally unkill such threads if they see it in time, although it rarely sticks).
Why would this be described as “unfortunate”? For example tings like LLM:s being trained on flawed/biased data is a known real and unfortunate thing which can hurt already marginalised groups in society if used for eg. policy derisions.
- sokoloff 3y agoThe “unfortunately” refers to the preceding text rather than the following. > However, despite these discussions not being off-topic, they tend to be flagged to death by users regardless. Unfortunately.
- Y-bar 3y agoThat’s my point, I think. It seems to me that moderators are doing the right thing by HN rules and context by tagging such discussions are not off-topic. Why is it described as “unfortunate” then?
- djur 3y agoI think you're reading it as "Unfortunately, moderators occasionally unkill such threads..." when it's meant as "...they tend to be flagged to death by users regardless, unfortunately".
- Y-bar 3y agoI think so too perhaps and hopefully, but there is no comma As in your example. Just a period suggesting the previous sentence has ended.
- sokoloff 3y agoTrue. But the following phrase is set off by both a period and a set of parentheses. I think it’s pretty clear the author’s intent is for there to be a complete sentence about the behavior of HN users and then a complete thought saying that was unfortunate. (Then a parenthetical about the moderator behavior.)
- bmicraft 3y agoIf you quoted the whole thing it would be more apparent: > [...] they tend to be flagged to death by users regardless. Unfortunately. What the author finds unfortunate is the flagging by users, not the moderator action.
- Y-bar 3y agoI hope i can agree with you. But are you really sure? The period seems to indicate that the “unfortunate” belongs to the moderator action and not the flagging.
- bmicraft 3y agoIn my mind unfortunately can only ever refer to a previous sentence, not the next one. I read the period simply as a stylistic choice meant as a pause. They could have written it with a dash or a comma: > [...] they tend to be flagged to death by users regardless — unfortunately.
- Y-bar 3y agoTo me it is always preceding, like here: > 1. Placement: “Unfortunately” is typically placed at the beginning of a sentence or clause to emphasize the regrettable aspect of the situation. It sets the tone for what follows and ensures clarity in your expression. https://thecontentauthority.com/blog/how-to-use-unfortunately-in-a-sentence https://thecontentauthority.com/blog/how-to-use-unfortunatel... > Unfortunately, my time is limited. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/unfortunately https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/unfortu...
- djur 3y agoSorry in advance if this is too much detail, but you seem to be interested in the nuance here. "Unfortunately." here is a sentence fragment. It's idiomatic (conversational + informal) English to modify a preceding sentence with a sentence fragment. ("We could have some iced tea. Or lemonade.") There are cases where a sentence fragment can be used to introduce a sentence ("Delicious. I ate the whole thing.") but this is never an adverb (you can say "Unbelievable. You've done it again" but not "Unbelievably. You've done it again"). If one were trying to write "Unfortunately, there has been an error" with a long pause, you would write "Unfortunately... there has been an error", never "Unfortunately. There has been an error." The latter looks like a typo. That's why (as a native speaker/reader of American English) I don't see any possibility of interpreting the text the way you're describing. Hope that helps!