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It's a common misconception among people who haven't done even the slightest bit of research. Or done their taxes themselves. Confidently stating stuff that is
by QuercusMax 2y ago
It's a common misconception among people who haven't done even the slightest bit of research. Or done their taxes themselves. Confidently stating stuff that is obviously false SHOULD be ridiculed.
- brodouevencode 2y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html No, they shouldn't.
- xeromal 2y agoSeems strange that ridicule should be your instinct rather than simple education
- berdario 2y agoAn educative reply is easier to ignore than a (or multiple) replies in which you're ridiculed. Moreover, being thought about how you're wrong about X might not necessarily translate in the subject being more careful before confidently expressing themselves on a Y topic on which they don't know anything about. Hopefully, ridiculing might make the subject reconsider that part of their character. That said, the HN policies recommend to "be kind"... I have no idea how to "ridicule someone's post in a kind way" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- nequo 2y agoThe pile of downvotes drives the point home. No need to ridicule, education is better. If you can't educate the poster, at least you educate other readers who also didn’t know, without the unnecessary noise of ridicule.
- reaperman 2y agoI don’t think I see the same pile of downvotes that you’re seeing? My comment of ridicule got +10 votes in 15 minutes before I edited it, and now is down to +9 an hour after editing the ridicule out. I see that “Calm down. It's a common misconception” did get downvoted.
- nequo 2y agoI mean the original comment that misunderstood marginal tax rates. That one looks very gray to me. (And I think your comment is better without the ridicule! The sources you found for your follow-up comment are interesting and I learned from it.)
- brodouevencode 2y agoAgreed - and thank you for updating.
- Maxatar 2y agoI hate to agree with the ridicule point, but honestly ridicule also deters other people from making a similar mistake. I agree ridicule should be used cautiously, but in a case like this where someone speaks so confidently and boldly gives advice on a topic they clearly do not understand, I think ridicule is a good way not only to inform them, but also indicate to others that it's not okay to give people this kind of advice unless you have a basic understanding of the topic.
- xeromal 2y agoI have nothing to back this up but the reason I'm sensitive to ridicule as an initial reaction is that I believe it causes people to shy away and there's potential that they surround themselves with other ridiculed people and now you have a group that is intentionally dense and now powerful. Education should always be the first step. I grew up in rural appalachia and the amount of grief than the uneducated get there for being uneducated causes them to become even more hostile and I really think that the Mr Rogers approach of education would eventually neuter any hostility they had towards the educated. * edit: changed education to educated
- Maxatar 2y agoThat is an excellent and profound point and one I can admire. Thanks for sharing it.
- Izkata 2y ago> Or done their taxes themselves. As someone who does his taxes manually every year, this probably wouldn't help. Most people would be under the threshold and just look up the value in a table and not see how it scales. If you use any sort of tax software I expect it's even further obscured.