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For me, writing/commenting is a great way of improving my own understanding of the topic, since it requires focus and some research. So in keeping with that, bl

For me, writing/commenting is a great way of improving my own understanding of the topic, since it requires focus and some research. So in keeping with that, blogging is simply good QA for my writing. Publishing is like the difference between running a site with a large userbase and one that doesn't - in the former you feel more pressure or responsibility to do your best. Confirmation is something that we all seek but arguing online and with friends has also taught me that being challenged can only ever be healthy for your beliefs, to use Mill's words in On Liberty, it yields "[a] clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." - whether the error is the opponent's or my own

Confusion 17y ago
I fully agree that discussions are often very educational and can change your beliefs for the better, but sometimes you aren't so much corrected and taught as disregarded, ridiculed, admonished or beaten down. That doesn't sit well for a short while, even if I agree it was an appropriate response.
- madair 17y ago
  I agree with what you're saying, it's tough, and more tough than is necessary. It's hard to see how it can be "fixed" but I do think that the more social it gets and the more we begin to recognize each other even in the more relatively anonymous forums like HN the more civil and easygoing it gets. Plus, doesn't it seem that online culture is growing up? Even if very slowly? But we'll never quite shake the fact that all of us come from different perspectives. We don't often talk about what I think is one of the most different of them all...AGE :-) Hacker forums will always have a percentage of pimply-faced 14 year olds, idealistic 21 year olds, cynical 36 year olds (me) and smug 45 year olds, and chilled out 55 year olds :-D (Please don't aim all those big guns at me, I'm way over-generalizing and having fun at the same time, just to make a point: Age is a factor :-)

Confusion 17y ago

I fully agree that discussions are often very educational and can change your beliefs for the better, but sometimes you aren't so much corrected and taught as disregarded, ridiculed, admonished or beaten down. That doesn't sit well for a short while, even if I agree it was an appropriate response.

madair 17y ago
I agree with what you're saying, it's tough, and more tough than is necessary. It's hard to see how it can be "fixed" but I do think that the more social it gets and the more we begin to recognize each other even in the more relatively anonymous forums like HN the more civil and easygoing it gets. Plus, doesn't it seem that online culture is growing up? Even if very slowly? But we'll never quite shake the fact that all of us come from different perspectives. We don't often talk about what I think is one of the most different of them all...AGE :-) Hacker forums will always have a percentage of pimply-faced 14 year olds, idealistic 21 year olds, cynical 36 year olds (me) and smug 45 year olds, and chilled out 55 year olds :-D (Please don't aim all those big guns at me, I'm way over-generalizing and having fun at the same time, just to make a point: Age is a factor :-)