I agree that it’s frustrating that people don’t read, but when I complain about that, I find that it’s tactically critical to specifically point to the part where I addressed their criticism. That is, I don’t just say, “I don’t think you read the post”, I say, “I don’t think you read the post, because if you had, you’d notice that I clearly addressed that in the paragraph starting with this-and-such.” That makes it more embarrassing for the critic who didn’t read, because it makes it legible to everyone that I’m not the one who’s bluffing.
That is true, and I have tried for the first two instances. It works less well, however, in cases where the comment has simply no relation with the text, and at any rate it requires an asymmetric effort that becomes far less justified when directed towards people who clearly have no intention of engaging with the material.
Yeah, it sucks! My strategy has basically just been to … unilaterally cover the asymmetric effort myself, on the theory that, well, the world doesn’t owe me anything; if I want people to understand things that they’re not interested in understanding, the only way to get my wish is to write so well and cover all the angles so thoroughly that it becomes more embarrassing for them to pretend not to understand. It’s not entirely ineffective, but comes at the cost of the prime years of my life. Sometimes I wonder if it’s a good use of my life, but it seems like an underprovided public good that I have a comparative advantage in. (Lots of people will write commercial software for money; not many people will do what I do out of religious fanaticism for the lost dream of rationality.)
The world does not owe me anything. Still, in this case, there is an ideological clash at play too:
thus, I am happy to write the main posts; happy to be charitable when replying to those who have read it; not willing to engage with criticism from those who clearly have not. also, research and engineering is my main activity, which means I should choose my battles carefully outside that
I agree that it’s frustrating that people don’t read, but when I complain about that, I find that it’s tactically critical to specifically point to the part where I addressed their criticism. That is, I don’t just say, “I don’t think you read the post”, I say, “I don’t think you read the post, because if you had, you’d notice that I clearly addressed that in the paragraph starting with this-and-such.” That makes it more embarrassing for the critic who didn’t read, because it makes it legible to everyone that I’m not the one who’s bluffing.
That is true, and I have tried for the first two instances. It works less well, however, in cases where the comment has simply no relation with the text, and at any rate it requires an asymmetric effort that becomes far less justified when directed towards people who clearly have no intention of engaging with the material.
Yeah, it sucks! My strategy has basically just been to … unilaterally cover the asymmetric effort myself, on the theory that, well, the world doesn’t owe me anything; if I want people to understand things that they’re not interested in understanding, the only way to get my wish is to write so well and cover all the angles so thoroughly that it becomes more embarrassing for them to pretend not to understand. It’s not entirely ineffective, but comes at the cost of the prime years of my life. Sometimes I wonder if it’s a good use of my life, but it seems like an underprovided public good that I have a comparative advantage in. (Lots of people will write commercial software for money; not many people will do what I do out of religious fanaticism for the lost dream of rationality.)
The world does not owe me anything. Still, in this case, there is an ideological clash at play too:
thus, I am happy to write the main posts; happy to be charitable when replying to those who have read it; not willing to engage with criticism from those who clearly have not. also, research and engineering is my main activity, which means I should choose my battles carefully outside that