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>> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1
by kristianc 14y ago
>> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." [1]
HN's own style guide has sound advice for how Linus might shorten his posts to under 140 characters.
[1] http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- aptwebapps 14y agoI've never seen him post here. Does he have an account?
- batista 14y agoThis assumes that the "That is an idiotic thing to say;" is unimportant. On the contrary. 1) It gives a lot of pleasure to respond with it to idiotic ideas. 2) It adds emphasis and a sense of proportions to the error, ie. it's not just a simple mistake, it is an idiotic mistake. 3) It (hopefully) shames the perpetrator of the idiotic idea into thinking twice before speaking. It's not always appropriate, but a lot of times it is just the thing.