# Politely disagreeing with Hari Seldon's Mode Note **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 1, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politely-disagreeing-with-hari-seldons-mode-note/929395 "2021-01-01T01:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 17
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politely-disagreeing-with-hari-seldons-mode-note/929395/17 "2021-01-03T14:56:55Z")
First, the post with moderation is [this one](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-debate-on-where-america-was-before-trump-were-we-really-in-decline/928648/142). > [@](#): > > Although I agree with you, ridicule is not the way to argue. See my recent post. Second, can you link to that recent post so we know which one you mean? Third, I have to agree with the OP. I don’t see ridicule beyond the merest disagreement with the expressed position. It’s not like he made a strawman analogy, or even snerked. _Maybe_ the third sentence _could_ be interpreted a _little_ snerky, but that just leads to the point that since when has this been unacceptable? > [@DrDeth](#): > > I think it is pointless to argue a Note. It’s just a Note. In this case, the argument is to understand what the Note even means. There doesn’t seem to be any ridicule, so why is the Note even given? One can’t possibly _begin_ to adjust their behavior if they don’t understand the error. > [@Trinopus](#): > > 3: Hari, please, don’t wait quite so long between the offense and the criticism. That specific dialogue had expired completely. Your bringing it up did more to emphasize it than to discipline it! In general, it can be argued that moderators aren’t everywhere and may not see or be alerted to an issue in a timely fashion. They still need to moderate problem behavior. In this type of case, though, there does need to be a balance between identifying a problem to correct it and calling attention to a part of the conversation that had long passed. If the topic had moved on, it doesn’t seem to have derailed the thread or started a hijack, so bringing it up relatively late doesn’t seem effective at reducing conflict. > [@BigT](#): > > I linked the specific post by clicking the little chain link icon below the post. I then chopped off the part that had my username in it (?u=bigt), but that’s optional. Thanks - I just used that method for the link in this post. Cool! --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politely-disagreeing-with-hari-seldons-mode-note/929395)._