Excellent points, and of course it is situation dependent - if one makes erroneous predictions on archived forms of communication, e.g. these posts, then yes these predictions can come back to haunt you, but often, especially in non-archived communications, people will remember the correct predictions and forget the false ones. It should go without saying that I do not intend to be overconfident on LW - if I was going to be, then the last thing I would do is announce this intention! In a strange way, I seem to want to hold three different beliefs: 1) An accurate assessment of what will happen, for planning my own actions. 2) A confidant, stopping just short of arrogant, belief in my predictions for impressing non-rationalists. 3) An unshakeable belief in my own invincibility, so that psychosomatic effects keep me healthy.

Unfortunately, this kinda sounds like "I want to have multiple personality disorder".