3 ms·

Thank you for the info. I'll stop doing that.

raldi 12y ago
It's a pretty transparent attempt at reverse psychology, and a form of vote-begging. Intstead try, "I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, but..."
- briantakita2 12y ago
  I can see how it's perceived that way. Fwiw, that was my frustration of down votes for unpopular, well meaning, statements. Thank you for the communication & attitude tip. I'll adopt it.
  - yetanother123 12y ago
    Except - your statements might be well meaning, but they are a) inflammatory b) poorly formulated and c) not backed by any kind of evidence. You keep referring to programming, but the equivalent of your argument is "oh well, Big data will win because my cousin frank used a spreadsheet to make a million bucks"
    - briantakita 12y ago
      a: It's only inflammatory because there's a strong bias b: It's only "poorly formulated" because the prevailing opinion isn't critical of western medicine c: Discussions of conjecture are allowed. At this point, the causes cancer is conjecture, as the isolated causes have been elusive despite the billions poured into research
      - maxerickson 12y ago
        How do you fit the BRCA genes into your anti reductionist framework? They are, at a minimum, highly specific predictors.
  - saraid216 12y ago
    Never discuss downvoting in the comments. Do not complain about them. Do not anticipate them. Do not ask for them. Anyone who says anything often enough will suffer downvotes at some point. If you can't figure out why, then ignore it. Last two paragraphs: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html There are exceptions, like a legitimate meta-discussion about the karma system, but those should be vanishingly rare.
- PhantomGremlin 12y ago
  > It's a pretty transparent attempt at reverse psychology It reminds me of slashdot. I recall seeing countless "+5 Insightful" posts that began with: "I'm sure I'll be downvoted for this ...".

raldi 12y ago

It's a pretty transparent attempt at reverse psychology, and a form of vote-begging. Intstead try, "I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, but..."

briantakita2 12y ago
I can see how it's perceived that way. Fwiw, that was my frustration of down votes for unpopular, well meaning, statements. Thank you for the communication & attitude tip. I'll adopt it.
- yetanother123 12y ago
  Except - your statements might be well meaning, but they are a) inflammatory b) poorly formulated and c) not backed by any kind of evidence. You keep referring to programming, but the equivalent of your argument is "oh well, Big data will win because my cousin frank used a spreadsheet to make a million bucks"
  - briantakita 12y ago
    a: It's only inflammatory because there's a strong bias b: It's only "poorly formulated" because the prevailing opinion isn't critical of western medicine c: Discussions of conjecture are allowed. At this point, the causes cancer is conjecture, as the isolated causes have been elusive despite the billions poured into research
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      How do you fit the BRCA genes into your anti reductionist framework? They are, at a minimum, highly specific predictors.
- saraid216 12y ago
  Never discuss downvoting in the comments. Do not complain about them. Do not anticipate them. Do not ask for them. Anyone who says anything often enough will suffer downvotes at some point. If you can't figure out why, then ignore it. Last two paragraphs: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html There are exceptions, like a legitimate meta-discussion about the karma system, but those should be vanishingly rare.
PhantomGremlin 12y ago
> It's a pretty transparent attempt at reverse psychology It reminds me of slashdot. I recall seeing countless "+5 Insightful" posts that began with: "I'm sure I'll be downvoted for this ...".