Unworthy

3 minute read

Unworthy Posts

Writing a post that’s worth reading takes a certain amount of effort. First, one has to be knowledgeable enough to actually know what one is talking about. Second, one has to make the effort to express one’s point in a coherent way.

Posts that don’t display both of those qualities aren’t worth responding to.

In my opinion, your post does not display those qualities, and I am therefore not responding. Life is too short. You may disagree with my diagnosis of your post. I am happy to let the community decide whether I am right.

I understand that you may (and probably will) reply, telling me and anyone following this thread that I’m wrong, that the real reason I’m not answering is because I know I’ve lost the argument, etc. Such claims would be incorrect, and are therefore not worth addressing. I am not planning to respond to any such posts; doing so would just be more wasted time.

There’s an “asymmetric warfare” aspect to the problem. It take zero effort to write an annoying post saying something snarky, claiming the original poster is wrong, ignorant, or lying. The original poster would have to write considerably more text showing why he isn’t. But based on what you have written so far, the odds are that you would not even read all the way through it, and if you did, that you would not think about it hard enough to be able to understand it. And it is highly likely that you would again respond the same way as before. So there is really no point in my making further effort.

If you actually want me to respond more fully, rather than simply dismiss you, I would be more than happy to: if you write something that shows you are making a real effort to understand, and would be willing to do so with respect to any further response from me. Claiming you have made such effort is meaningless since I don’t see any sign of it. Claiming you will do so is also meaningless, because such a claim takes zero effort to make. You have to demonstrate the fruits of that effort in text in this thread.

Anyone following this thread can read this and know why I am bowing out.