[[The master of the massive cut and paste of other people’s posts, followed by a one or two line reply is Big Iron and his are among the most annoying on this board. ]] C3
Coming from the likes of this maroon, I’ll genuinely take that as a compliment.
Frankly, I have little patience for those who gripe much about this – the one or two who have for whom I have respect also generally are able (unlike many posters) to assemble coherent paragraphs that can be addressed as a whole and do not have to be addressed piecemeal due to the uncouth writing style.
As far as nitpicking, the thing I hate is when people contradict you over semantic issues as opposed to try to refutr your points. Even if you don’t like my choice of words for expressing a particular idea, it is plainly obvious what idea I am talking about. Don’t attack the language, talk about the idea… Some people seem unable to tell the difference between the two.
And what about people who spend their time finding fault where none was made? If I say that “The earth goes around the sun.” I’ll often get a response saying “Your totally wrong. The earth goes around the sun in an elipse.” Do you folks see my point? Is it too much to ask that if someone doesn’t have anything to say to either support or refute the content of a post, they should just keep quiet?
Jason R Remy
“No amount of legislation can solve America’s problems.”
– Jimmy Carter (1980)
Semantic issues are everything. Ideas do not exist independent of language, and you cannot expect anyone to know what you “mean”. Say what you mean, and mean what you say. And if you don’t know how to express it accurately, shut up. Or go to a board with a less intelligent and discerning population.
Oh yeah, and in specific reply to this topic: if you are going to debate, be prepared to defend (or re-think or abandon) your beliefs down to the minutest detail.
There is nothing so annoying as someone who will ONLY address the points made in a post that they believe they can, and ignore the rest. Pick your nits! Nits absolutely count.
Sigh. I can’t get him to convert to the Cubs, no matter what I do. He’s wrong in his religious preferences, too. >>>>C.K.
Now these are fighting words! Rip apart my debating skills, tear down the foundations of my religious beliefs, but disparage the White Sox? Heavens to Murgatroid!
The Kids can play, C.K.! Remember, the only bright spot on the Cub roster cut his teeth with the Sox. And the Vegas line is now 3 to 1 that Mr. Sosa will finish with more home runs than the Cubs have wins.
(Before I am chided for being off topic, let it be known that this post is a public service announcement for Chicago’s Underground Baseball Society Shunning Unctious Cubs Krap)
SoxFan59
“Its fiction, but all the facts are true!”
Stoidela, I agree with you up to a point. It’s certainly true that, especially in a text-only forum, separating “The Idea” from “the words used to express The Idea” is difficult to impossible. So a certain amount of nitpicking is unavoidable, and even desirable, in a good debate.
However, there are situations when attacking semantics does not contribute anything meaningful, and in fact just detracts from the discussion.
To hijack an example from jayron 32, a post to an astronomy thread might contain the wording, “…and scientists have found what seem to be planetary systems circling other stars.” It would hardly make sense for someone to attack that post by stating that planets move in ellipses, not circles, and that astronomers must therefore be observing some other phenomenon.
I’m not a warlock. I’m a witch with a Y chromosome.
Well, I think we can all tell the difference between useful nitpicking and ridiculous nitpicking, and your example falls into the latter…
Assuming that the debate is not ABOUT whether it is circles or ellipses or some other shape.
Too often, we lose sight of life’s simple pleasures…Remember, when
someone
annoys you, it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown BUT it only takes 4
muscles to extend your arm and SMACK the person right upside the head.