entirelyuseless comments on Typical Sneer Fallacy - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (44)
I suspect the anecdote about Eliezer only sidetracks your readers.
Hence the problem with sneer in actual criticism. Not that I'm opposed to sneering. Far from it. But you'd better be making solid points while you sneer. If you make a bunch of half ass points just to sneer, don't expect people to dig your one diamond out of that pile of crap. They will look elsewhere for criticism, if they're interested in it at all. And quite reasonably so.
EY writes:
Yep. Don't expect to find diamonds in a pile of crap. Expect to find more crap.
These seem like pretty good reasons not to sneer, whether or not your criticism is solid.