ruhe47 comments on Procedural Knowledge Gaps - Less Wrong

126 Post author: Alicorn 08 February 2011 03:17AM

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Comment author: ruhe47 12 February 2011 08:52:36AM *  1 point [-]

Edited: See the bottom section!

It isn't challenging the response. It is asking for more information. I accept the answer of "good" and then ask for elucidation. The follow up question ("really good or just sorta' good?") is predicated on my acceptance of their response. If I were to continue the questioning beyond the initial request for more detail it would definitely be intrusive, especially coming from an arbitrary stranger.

If you were to respond to my follow-up question with anything other than a positive reaction I would not attempt to engage you in any meaningful way beyond that. It hasn't happened yet, but it is entirely possible that it would!

Edit: I owe you an apology. After a little bit of thought (I posted shortly after you without giving what you said the consideration it deserves) it definitely could be construed as questioning your initial response of "good", which would be rude. I just had my understanding improved a bit. I hadn't even considered it that way (even after you spelled it out)!

Comment author: Sniffnoy 13 February 2011 03:29:57AM 0 points [-]

Thought - warning, unreliable memory ahead - perhaps the problem is that I often do try to somehow answer the question in the first place, so if I simply reply "Good", that's already something of a "don't-bother-me". But I suppose other people couldn't be expected to recognize that.

Comment author: Sniffnoy 13 February 2011 01:03:01AM 0 points [-]

It isn't challenging the response. It is asking for more information.

This makes sense in a context where you are actually trying to convey information. Absent that, I'm not sure it does.