The “I think” is filler because it is implied. Of course the author writes what he thinks.
I disagree with this. As a writer, I don’t mean the same thing by “I think it cost over $100” versus “it cost over $100″. The latter is more confident; I don’t intend to literally never be wrong when I say things like it, but I do intend to very rarely be wrong. The former suggests that I don’t remember very well and I didn’t look it up. And as a reader, I think I roughly by-default expect writers to be doing the same, and if they regularly say things unhedged that turn out to be false (or that I think they couldn’t possibly know) I lose respect for them.
I don’t know how common it is for other readers to read like me, or other writers to write like me. But I’d be surprised if either demographic was fewer than 10% on LW.
I weakly predict that if you compare the typical writer who doesn’t use “I think” to the typical writer who does, the one who doesn’t is less capable of distinguishing what-is from what-seems-to-be; and is less well-calibrated if you press them to put probabilities on their statements.
I disagree with this. As a writer, I don’t mean the same thing by “I think it cost over $100” versus “it cost over $100″. The latter is more confident; I don’t intend to literally never be wrong when I say things like it, but I do intend to very rarely be wrong. The former suggests that I don’t remember very well and I didn’t look it up. And as a reader, I think I roughly by-default expect writers to be doing the same, and if they regularly say things unhedged that turn out to be false (or that I think they couldn’t possibly know) I lose respect for them.
I don’t know how common it is for other readers to read like me, or other writers to write like me. But I’d be surprised if either demographic was fewer than 10% on LW.
I weakly predict that if you compare the typical writer who doesn’t use “I think” to the typical writer who does, the one who doesn’t is less capable of distinguishing what-is from what-seems-to-be; and is less well-calibrated if you press them to put probabilities on their statements.