Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill?

Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by quickthrower2 on Monday April 25, 2022 @09:28PM (#31162981)

I see "Sorry but this is utter nonsense" as ad hominem, a put down, with overtones of a dismissive "wiser" person dismissing out of hand what is said. That effect of this psychological slight outweighs the fact that they did back up their argument afterwards and didn't leave it as just an unsubstantial comment.

Kind of like a microagression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression, I think...

Human language and idioms are hard to create rulesets for. Probably "name-calling" is too specific, but "microagression" may not be understood by all. However it is sad if we need to lawyer the guidelines.

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Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by twayt on Monday April 25, 2022 @09:35PM (#31163020)

No calling an argument "utter nonsense" doesn't imply anything about the person making the argument. You may think it is ad hominem but technically it simply isn't since it isn't directed to a person but rather their argument.

However, in this context, calling their argument "utter nonsense" is utterly unnecessary and only serves to up the ante.

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Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by dang on Monday April 25, 2022 @10:50PM (#31163464)

It isn't just about being personal (though that's particularly bad). It's about not tossing in pejoratives and putdowns. The HN guidelines are clear about this:

"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

We don't want name-calling (in this sense) because it leads to dumber, nastier internet discussion.

It's also particularly easy to avoid. If you take out its first sentence, the GP comment loses nothing but hostility and becomes a far better HN contribution.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by twayt on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @03:31PM (#31172066)

I think you misunderstood my comment. I agree with the spirit of the rule and hold a similar view to what you explained.

I was pointing out to the commenter that while it was not technically as hominem, it is still not acceptable and doesn’t add anything to the discussion.

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Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by dang on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @05:45PM (#31173574)

Oops, I think I might have replied to the wrong comment. Sorry about that!

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Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by quickthrower2 on Monday April 25, 2022 @11:54PM (#31163777)

Good point (I might be replying to edited version?)

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Re:Ask HN: What happened to Twitter poison pill? by twayt on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @03:31PM (#31172072)

There is no edited version

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