Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: It's a lovely day in the neighborhood

Author:David McCusker
Posted:9/16/2000; 9:16:46 PM
Topic:It's a lovely day in the neighborhood
Msg #:21424 (In response to 21421)
Prev/Next:21421 / 21425

Josh Allen: Well, I will also add that I do not at all mind flaming, people calling me stupid, or whatever.

I rarely flame folks since I need to lose my temper first. I rarely say folks are stupid because this is either wrong when it's false, or needlessly cruel when it's true.

Josh Allen: I also noticed that you sometimes pose things very strongly,

That's just my style. It's clear, and it makes me happy. Partly it's joy in risking a mistake, rather than living in a foxhole. I think it also entertains folks when they wonder whether I might later be sorry I said something. The funny thing is this rarely happens.

Josh Allen: perhaps more strongly than you believe, and I think that is actually a smart trick.

I usually believe it very nearly as I say it, but I'm aware more thought might change or tune my belief. I just don't say things safely to make sure I never contradict myself even slightly later. Since I don't change my mind often by more than refinement, I seldom wish I had a more cautious policy.

The trick, if there is one, is that I sometimes simulate a patzer (bungler) in public forums, because it's often foolish to speak your mind freely with the internet tradition for flaming. I enjoy playing decoy for the odd vicious person online who aims a kick at me for practice, only to find the kick does not connect as expected.

But I don't actually hurt folks who try to kick me. It's worth it to me just to see surprise now and then. Actually, you know, attempts to kick are so uncommon that it warms my heart that folks are so good natured.

Josh Allen: Suppose I feel there may be other perspectives available to me and I know that I need more debate from other people to test my current understanding of something.

That's not quite it. I feel fairly secure in my ideas. But when I state my ideas strongly, sometimes an unexpected thing happens. It causes someone to have an interesting related idea that they tell me about. This happens most often when I say something strongly. So I get the most stimulus when I just go for it.

Josh Allen: If I pose something in a way that will goad people into arguing back strongly, then I can find out what all of their best arguments are very quickly.

Somehow it doesn't work like goading, maybe because I'm not really being that annoying. It's more the case that if I don't speak strongly, it might be so boring no one actually reads what I write. I pay attention to the attention spans of casual readers. For example, this is the last sentence in this paragraph folks want to read. :-)

Josh Allen: As for official policies, Microsoft does have some policies in the handbook, but most is left up to the common sense and discretion of the employees.

A fairly spoken answer to my question. I note you don't actually characterize the policy, so I assume that particular policy or some meta policy stipulates that you not do so. I asked the question mainly to demonstrate whether you were allowed to state what the policy is. I think this is an interesting meta issue in trust.

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