I wish I could upvote this question more. People assuming that I meant more than exactly what I said drives me up the wall, and I don’t know how to deal with it either. (but Qiaochu’s response below is good)
The most common failure mode I’ve experienced is the assumption that believing equals endorsing. One of the gratifying aspects of participating here is not having to deal with that; pretty much everyone on LW is inoculated.
Be cautious, the vast majority do not make strict demarcation between normative and positive statements inside their head. Figuring this out massively improved my models of other people.
I wish I could upvote this question more. People assuming that I meant more than exactly what I said drives me up the wall, and I don’t know how to deal with it either. (but Qiaochu’s response below is good)
The most common failure mode I’ve experienced is the assumption that believing equals endorsing. One of the gratifying aspects of participating here is not having to deal with that; pretty much everyone on LW is inoculated.
Be cautious, the vast majority do not make strict demarcation between normative and positive statements inside their head. Figuring this out massively improved my models of other people.
That makes life difficult when I want to say “X is true (but not necessarily good)”
For example, your statement is true but I’m not terribly happy about it. ;-)