Communication
One of the painful signs of years of dumbed-down education is how many people are unable to make a coherent argument. They can vent their emotions, question other people’s motives, make bold assertions, repeat slogans -- anything except reason.
-- Thomas Sowell
The proposition here is that the human brain is, in large part, a machine for winning arguments, a machine for convincing others that its owner is in the right – and thus a machine for convincing its owner of the same thing. The brain is like a good lawyer: given any set of interests to defend, it sets about convincing the world of their moral and logical worth, regardless of whether they in fact have any of either. Like a lawyer, the human brain wants victory, not truth; and, like a lawyer, it is sometimes more admirable for skill than for virtue.
-- Robert Wright, The Moral Animal
- How to Disagree
- Taboo Your Words
- The Worst Argument in the World
- Is That Your True Rejection?
- The Least Convenient Possible World
Language
Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language -- so the argument runs -- must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
-- George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”
Rethoric
Online
Unsophisticated people read an article like this and think: Gosh, I better eat honey for breakfast! People a little more sophisticated think: Hey, this is anecdotal evidence! Yeah, we know that. But is that the most interesting thing one can say about this article? Is it not at least a source of ideas for things to investigate further?
The problem with the middlebrow dismissal is that it’s a magnet for upvotes. The “U R a fag”s get downvoted and end up at the bottom of the page where they cause little trouble. But this sort of comment rises to the top. Things have now gotten to the stage where I flinch slightly as I click on the “comments” link, bracing myself for the dismissive comment I know will be waiting for me at the top of the page.
-- Paul Graham
A lot of technically-minded people take great pleasure in finding and fixing bugs. The problem is that finding errors in human interaction leads to pedantry, nitpicking, and cherry-picking. This is especially true as the community grows and interactions with all but the most visible people becomes rare. People have less incentive to give others the benefit of the doubt, and more incentive to find the problems and point them out.
-- ignostic
- What I’ve Learned from Hacker News
- Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs
- ROBOT9000 and #xkcd-signal: Attacking Noise in Chat
- Because Reading is Fundamental
- Pixels don’t care
- Vi Hart’s Guide to Comments
- How Internet Fighting Works
Moderation
- Well-Kept Gardens Die By Pacifism
- The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
- Suspension, Ban or Hellban?
- A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy
Complaining about the S/N ratio online is like redoubling your speed when you realize you’re going in the wrong direction. -- raganwald
Presentations
People can read much faster than they can speak, and they can look up new words.
You can Ctrl+F arbitraly big text files for keywords. Good luck with doing the same with 2-hours-long video file or mp3. You will need to listen to the whole thing. That's what annoys me about the new trend to do tutorials as video.
You can easily diff text.
Text works with version control systems.
Text works with unix command line tools.
You can trivialy paste relevant fragments on wiki pages, in emails or IM discussions.
Automatic translation works with text.
Screen readers work with text.
-- ajuc
The big thing with text is the ease of changing which piece of information you're consuming. Anything that's on the same page is an eye-movement away, which is the cheapest action a human can take. For a video, you have to interact with the controls and hope you get to the right place.
-- ThrustVectoring
Presentations are not a very good medium. When possible, consider writing an essay instead.
- Writing and Speaking
- Always bet on text
- Some short advice for giving presentations
- How not to ask questions at a conference
If you deliver a successful talk, consider telling your audience about this site at the end.
Grammar
Minor grammar stuff. For the important stuff see the first two sections of this page.
- Stephen Fry on Grammar Nazis
- The Alot is Better Than You at Everything
- The Oatmeal Grammar Pack
- Literally
- I Could Care Less
- What is meant by “steep learning curve”?
mu /moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes" is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions".
From The Jargon File
Pragmatic evidential semantic speech attitudes or something
I believe what I'm saying.
I kind of believe what I'm saying.
I said a thing that I believe in an unusual way so that you would understand how sincerely I believe it.
I would be surprised if what I was saying was mostly right, but we have to start with something if we are to compose a productive theory.
Some part of me believes what I'm saying, but I don't endorse that.
Some part of me doesn't believe what I'm saying, but I don't endorse that.
I believed what I was saying as I was saying it, but then I totally remembered or figured out that it was all wrong.
I don't really mean any of what I'm saying, but I'm saying it because of some impulse.
I don't strongly believe what I'm saying, but I'm still saying it because it's (funny | hurtful | interesting | a prank, mate | shitposting | so random hahaha | expected of me | habitual | what someone else said | useful | phatic | ... ).
What I'm saying is literally true, but I don't mean all of the connotations that you're reading from it.
What I'm saying is literally false, but I meant the connotations that you're reading from it.
I don't know how to say a thing that I would mean, but what I'm saying gets close to the issue.
I know what I would like to say, but I'm saying something slightly wrong for sake of brevity.
I know what I would like to say, but I'm saying it with lots of indirection because you wouldn't respond well.
I'm not resolved yet as to whether I believe what I'm saying, but I will believe if someone finds a laudable reading of it or if lots of people seem to like it.
The state of affairs became true because I declared it.
What I'm saying is unrelated to my beliefs.
I thought I didn't believe the thing as I was saying it, but I have now been convinced by hearing my articulate argument aloud.
I believe what I'm saying, but not quite so much that I want to defend it while some asshole on twitter picks it apart.
I meant multiple readings of what I said, to different degrees toward different audiences, but I wouldn't normally try to simultaneously independently steer the beliefs of multiple audiences unless I were showing off to yet another audience.
I said the thing precisely because I thought you wouldn't know what it meant or if it meant something.
What I'm saying doesn't mean anything.
I meant the opposite of what I said, you butt.
-- unknown (found on the Less Wrong IRC channel)