4 ms·

its silly that someone who solo-publishes a paper still needs to refer to themselves as "we" cool paper

by stainablesteel 2y ago

digging 2y ago
I think it's fun when I'm writing documents.
- Log_out_ 2y ago
  Plural majestic
speg 2y ago
Me, myself, and I.
tkw01536 2y ago
I usually interpret the “we” in scientific papers as “you (the reader) and me (the author)”.
gonzo 2y ago
The Royal “we”.
fp64 2y ago
Try replace each instance of “we” with “I” and you will notice it will sound weird and narcissistic. At least that’s how I (we) feel
bogtog 2y ago
It is silly. The guy may just want to avoid standing out or drawing attention to themselves. "I" is more appropriate for any solo paper. If the author really can't bring themselves to write "I", then they should just avoid the first-person entirely. (Or maybe this is a field-specific thing. This guy is in a math dept, and I can only speak from the perspective of the social sciences)
gs17 2y ago
Would you rather they add a cat to justify the plural? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._D._C._Willard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._D._C._Willard (obviously this is indeed an improvement over a solo paper)
- jsrcout 2y ago
  As did Yuri Knorozov, linguist who played a major rele in deciphering the Mayan language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Knorozov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Knorozov > Knorozov listed his cat Asya as a co-author on his work, but the editors always removed her. He always used the photo with Asya (above) as his author photo, and got annoyed when editors cropped her out.[32] However, Asya was included in his statue. https://coleandmarmalade.com/2022/08/16/yuri-knorozov-credits-cat-asya-with-breakthrough/ https://coleandmarmalade.com/2022/08/16/yuri-knorozov-credit...
glitchc 2y ago
It's always better to avoid first person in the paper altogether.
postepowanieadm 2y ago
We don't find that silly at all.
dang 2y ago
"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

its silly that someone who solo-publishes a paper still needs to refer to themselves as "we" cool paper

digging 2y ago

I think it's fun when I'm writing documents.

Log_out_ 2y ago
Plural majestic

speg 2y ago

Me, myself, and I.

tkw01536 2y ago

I usually interpret the “we” in scientific papers as “you (the reader) and me (the author)”.

gonzo 2y ago

The Royal “we”.

fp64 2y ago

Try replace each instance of “we” with “I” and you will notice it will sound weird and narcissistic. At least that’s how I (we) feel

bogtog 2y ago

It is silly. The guy may just want to avoid standing out or drawing attention to themselves. "I" is more appropriate for any solo paper. If the author really can't bring themselves to write "I", then they should just avoid the first-person entirely. (Or maybe this is a field-specific thing. This guy is in a math dept, and I can only speak from the perspective of the social sciences)

gs17 2y ago

Would you rather they add a cat to justify the plural? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._D._C._Willard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._D._C._Willard (obviously this is indeed an improvement over a solo paper)

jsrcout 2y ago
As did Yuri Knorozov, linguist who played a major rele in deciphering the Mayan language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Knorozov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Knorozov > Knorozov listed his cat Asya as a co-author on his work, but the editors always removed her. He always used the photo with Asya (above) as his author photo, and got annoyed when editors cropped her out.[32] However, Asya was included in his statue. https://coleandmarmalade.com/2022/08/16/yuri-knorozov-credits-cat-asya-with-breakthrough/ https://coleandmarmalade.com/2022/08/16/yuri-knorozov-credit...

glitchc 2y ago

It's always better to avoid first person in the paper altogether.

postepowanieadm 2y ago

We don't find that silly at all.

dang 2y ago

"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html