Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by crocowhile on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @11:22AM (#1979483)

This doesn't really answer your parent's question, does it?

If you use TFA or RTFA make sure you do it properly, it's rude.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by resdirector on Tuesday December 07, 2010 @09:41PM (#1981638)

Agreed. Not only does it not answer my question, it's against the HN guidelines: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by swombat on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @05:22AM (#1982435)

How is it against the HN guidelines?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by resdirector on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @11:09AM (#1983389)

Okay, it's not really too much of a big a deal, but the way I read it, it was "TFA" as in "read the fucking article". I thought "come on, dude, it was a valid question": Julian, in his article, doesn't actually mention the source, just some vague reference to an unnamed blogger. Given the seriousness of the kidnap threats, I wanted to find out if it was a credible claim. E.g., I wanted to see the original source and find out (a) who said it (b) what was actually said and (c) ascertain how credible a threat it was.

So when I read "TFA", I thought "come on, dude, that's a bit patronizing, it's a valid question, fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate". I think a few other people thought the same way, too.

Personally I believe that there are no stupid questions (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1853740) and we shouldn't diss questions stupid or otherwise.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by michael_dorfman on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @05:07AM (#1982421)

Yes, it does. Explicitly and clearly. With a direct quotation.

What more could you ask for?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by resdirector on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @11:15AM (#1983410)

What more could you ask for?

The exact source.

There's a world of difference between Julian's assertion of "a US blogger" versus a link to the original source (which jacquesm supplied). Perhaps we're living in the wikipedia generation, but it's quite concerning that people on Hacker News automatically consider assertions to be as credible as original sources!

I mean, seriously, Julian makes a statement about how his son has received kidnapping threats, and people just swallow it without questioning? I'm not saying that I think Julian is lying (and having seen jacquesm's link, it seems like he wasn't), but I think it's incredibly important for anyone wishing to critically analyse current affairs to view all claims, on all sides of the debate, with a skeptical mind.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Don't shoot the messenger for telling the truth by crocowhile on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @06:15AM (#1982504)

For instance jacquesm answer? It's way more informative, it contains the actual answer to the question, is not arrogantly witty. Enough?

[ Parent | on HN ]