Unknowns comments on Logical Rudeness - Less Wrong

65 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 29 January 2010 06:48AM

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Comment author: RichardKennaway 29 January 2010 01:44:39PM *  7 points [-]

Many years ago, before the web, when email lists and bulletin boards were the cutting edge of the Internet and dinosaurs ruled the earth...

I was on a certain mailing list, and there was one member who, on being pressed to admit having been wrong about something or other, asserted that it was a deliberate policy of his to never do any such thing. That did not mean that he never changed his mind as a result of argument. But (he said) if he did, he would simply cease to assert the view he now thought was mistaken, and after some suitable lapse of time, advocate the view he now thought was correct, as if it had been his view all along.

I am undecided about whether this counts as logical rudeness.

Comment author: Unknowns 29 January 2010 02:21:52PM 1 point [-]

I think this is a common policy, although it's rare that someone would admit to following it.