Many times I’ve seen a thread (not necessarily on the Dope, mind you) where someone introduces an error or misunderstanding that is not caught and a whole huge conversation takes place that’s based entirely on the misunderstanding. Even long after the thread is cold, it can be frustrating to see so much effort expended in complete futility because the premise is flawed.
This is also similar to a big problem in forums that are dedicated to discussing the rules of games, where someone asserts a particular understanding of a rule or of how a software application works, is demonstrably wrong, and yet hundreds of people read that assertion and base their strategy on it. Yes, in some cases the assertion is a minor aside or assumption in a much larger point, and I’m sure the poster in question feels nitpicked. But in many cases the error seems plausible, and unless debunked, will generate private frustration in online gamers or public argument between face-to-face gamers, despite being a minor aside in the original discussion.
Also, sometimes the person asserting: “it’s a minor error not relevant to the big picture” is factually wrong, and the element does impact people’s perceptions of the big picture. No doubt the person will later complain to others about the off-topic nitpick, but they’ll be wrong then too.
Lastly, we are often told by language descriptivists that if something is used commonly, at a certain point it becomes standard usage and no longer an error. Well, if they’re going to declare that, we should fight back. Why should we let careless error become fossilized into the language? Pick those nits and resist allowing stupidity or laziness to limit our world!