A Simple Rule For Posting and Reading Threads

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From ChatGPT
If you ever want a quick internal check (no timelines needed):

If an argument requires you to hold multiple meanings of the same word or event at once — without being told which meaning is active — it’s not a sound argument.

Good interpretation:

• Slows you down
• Clarifies categories
• Reduces ambiguity

Bad interpretation:

• Speeds you up
• Blurs categories
• Punishes careful readers

Have you ever read a post that left you baffled as to how to respond as it seemed "off" but you had trouble pinpointing what was wrong or expressing it? Even had trouble pinpointing what was being said?

One reason might be because the argument or assertion being put forth is not linear, but associative. Instead of arriving at conclusions A to B to C it presents like this:

A reminds me of B, B sounds like C, C feels connected to D, therefore A proves D. It becomes hard to argue against because every time you think you have found the problem, it slipped somewhere else. It keeps changing categories or collapsing categories never staying in one category long enough for the mind to stabilize.

We have all come across posts like this and likely have—at times of frustration or weariness or unaware that we are doing so—slipped in that way. Some I do believe have made an art form of doing so on purpose as a tactic against disagreement.

Watch for it. Slow down. If it is more trouble than we are willing to engage with to untangle--walk on by. It can result in very long posts. Even if we do untangle it, it likely will bear no fruit. Be careful in our own posting.