Re:Show HN: Reveddit.com: Improving online discourse with tr...
by rhaksw on Saturday November 05, 2022 @03:22PM
(#33484714)
Yeah, I'd say another thing is to be aware that some might like to troll and steal your attention in order to distract. And to be like, okay, you got me haha, and just move on.
For example, the reply to me in this thread [1] is not the author that I originally replied to, and their comments are nonsensical, so I just considered them a troll and went to check for other replies.
I'll give someone a chance to make their case more clearly, but if they don't make any attempt at reading and responding to what I wrote, it's not worth it.
This is a very succinct and insightful way of putting it. It's fine to refuse to engage with people who are refusing to engage with you in good faith (i.e. they won't respond to the arguments you're making with anything but a repetition of their own arguments.) However, assuming bad faith of everyone who has a different opinion than you, even an obviously bad opinion, just hardens their belief in that opinion. It also makes you the one who is refusing to engage (in good faith or bad.)
People know from their daily lives that when people refuse to engage, it's either because they're afraid their answer will anger you, or because they're afraid that they won't be able to defend it. When you refuse to engage with a bleach-drinker, and you're clearly not worried about angering them, they reasonably assume that you can't confidently tell them why they shouldn't drink bleach.