My experience of Said has been mostly as described, a strong sense of sneer on mine and others posts that I find unpleasant.
I think there’s a large swathe of experience/understanding that Said doesn’t have, and which no amount of his socratic questioning will ever actually create that understanding- and it’s not designed for Said to try to understand, but to punish others for not making sense in Said’s worldview.
But I think a lot of Said’s confusions would actually make more sense to Said if he came to the realization that he’s odd, actually, and that the way he uses words is quite nonstandard, and that many of the things which baffle and confuse him are not, in fact, fundamentally baffling or confusing but rather make sense to many non-Said people.
I also have noticed in the past his sometimes unusually hostile/gaslighting/uncharitable/unproductive war-of-attrition discussion style when he disagrees with someone, described here in detail by habryka. Including his aggressive/escalating voting behavior in simple one-to-one disagreements, also mentioned by habryka. (I also wondered whether sock puppet accounts or specific “voting friends” are involved, but as far as I see habryka didn’t mention these exist, which is some evidence that they don’t.) I have not seen anyone else act like that, so I don’t think this is a case of just “banning people who voice criticism”. There are countless people posting outspoken criticisms without remotely employing an unconstructive style like that.
Reading now that this has been going on for many years, including temporary bans, I believe this is a psychological property of his personality, and likely not something he can really control. Similar to how some people have a natural tendency to voice disagreements in friendly and productive manner, but the other way round.
My experience of Said has been mostly as described, a strong sense of sneer on mine and others posts that I find unpleasant.
I think there’s a large swathe of experience/understanding that Said doesn’t have, and which no amount of his socratic questioning will ever actually create that understanding- and it’s not designed for Said to try to understand, but to punish others for not making sense in Said’s worldview.
Thank you for this decision.
(My own writing, from here.)
I also have noticed in the past his sometimes unusually hostile/gaslighting/uncharitable/unproductive war-of-attrition discussion style when he disagrees with someone, described here in detail by habryka. Including his aggressive/escalating voting behavior in simple one-to-one disagreements, also mentioned by habryka. (I also wondered whether sock puppet accounts or specific “voting friends” are involved, but as far as I see habryka didn’t mention these exist, which is some evidence that they don’t.) I have not seen anyone else act like that, so I don’t think this is a case of just “banning people who voice criticism”. There are countless people posting outspoken criticisms without remotely employing an unconstructive style like that.
Reading now that this has been going on for many years, including temporary bans, I believe this is a psychological property of his personality, and likely not something he can really control. Similar to how some people have a natural tendency to voice disagreements in friendly and productive manner, but the other way round.