RobinZ comments on Conversation Halters - Less Wrong

38 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 20 February 2010 03:00PM

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Comment author: RobinZ 20 February 2010 08:51:44PM 5 points [-]

It can be such an attempt: if, in order to continue discussing X, I have to refute such-and-such megabytes of text from an external link, that places an asymmetric burden on me.

It would be reasonable to say, "You're coming in in the middle of an argument - the points you are trying to address are being discussed [here](URL)", but "BOOK TITLE decisively proves my point" is another variation of the appeal to unquestionable authority.