Sealioning

[Bone]

@Ravenman

All kidding aside, on this board the key things to pay attention to are:

1. Overuse of asking for cites,
2. Fixation on the use of a particular word, such as asking for precise definitions and then quibbling with them,
3. If someone provides ten points in favor of an idea or whatever, proceeding to nitpick the hell out of one in order to “disprove” the other nine,
4. Altering the basics of the debate or moving the goalposts of a standard of proof, forcing others to essentially go back to square one,
5. An extreme focus on the process of a debate, rather than the main point (e.g., if someone says the sky is blue, the troll/sealioner will focus discussion individually/serially on the words, meaning, and standard of proof for “sky,” “is,” and “blue” rather than coming out with a competing argument that the sky is a different color.

This is definitely a phenomenon that is hard to see at first because it is subtle, but once you notice it, it becomes obvious. One question to keep in mind is, “Is this poster just making others do a lot of work/citing/arguing without contributing a similar degree of effort?”

This is a pretty good list. Way back about 4 years ago, this is what I wrote about it:

@Bone

This term may be a good way to describe conversations I have with a family member. We’ll have normal conversations about topics of the day and often they get bogged down with minutiae about what words mean, clarifying tone, or other BS that makes the conversation tedious.

The same thing can happen on this board where there will be cite requests or JAQ about idiotic things. I typically exercise restraint and ignore it. For example, if we used the OP as a sample:

It was met with approval at Boing Boing

Why would you think that?

It is reasonable to ask for accountability.

What do you mean by accountability? What should be the consequence of this type of behavior?

If I see a high ratio of questions to statements, it makes me think they are engaging in this type of behavior.