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0 pointsthetrumanshow13y ago0 comments

Had I opened with "Interesting article, but tangentially..." then we'd still disagree, but maybe we could have avoided the straw-man ding. :)

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j_baker13y ago

You're right. Then we'd have a passive-aggressive ding. The only thing you would have to add to make it perfect would be "...but I'd never claim the author is trying to do that."

derefr13y ago

I wouldn't even call it passive-aggressive; it's soapboxing, plain and simple.

> This article is about X. But I don't care what the article says about X. I have something to say about X, and by God, I'm going to say it.

--But I don't know that this is a particularly problematic thing to be happening in a threaded comment system, since people can get sidetracked by "soapbox issues" in a subthread while letting the "parent conversation" continue around them. It's just kind of confusing for people who treat this place like a linear-chronological message-board that discusses one topic at a time.

thetrumanshowOP13y ago

I concur.

There are n-ways to join in a conversation, but the more direct experience you have, the better you will be able to field certain types of discussion. So, experts and expert debaters will dive right in and attack the topic head-on. More timid souls will wait in the wings and hope that someone will say something that they can directly respond to with confidence.

Sometimes you have to be slightly shameless if you want to join in a conversation. Stating an opinion (soap-boxing) does feel a bit like cheating the system. But I would argue its slightly better than standing on the sideline.

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