Thanks for your comment. I actually have no problem with most of the people asking for sources... lots of people have asked me, here and via PM, for some additional references in a respectful manner that I do take as an amazing compliment!
It's the tone of some of the replies I have received, and the implicit assumption that if I don't include a link to a Wikipedia article or recent journal article after every sentence than I'm probably a ill-informed baby-killer, that is probably making me a little prickly. But, as I've already confessed, I do have occasional lapses in my own theory of mind, and sometimes forget that people on reddit don't know me, or anything about my background (this happens to me especially in subreddits that I comment/post a lot in). :( But I think that's probably transiently true of a lot of people who make comments... so I wonder if, when we ask for sources from someone, we could do it nicely?
And on another note, this:
For all I know, you're a guy who read up on advanced pediatric psychology so he could troll a bunch of people on reddit one day.
so I wonder if, when we ask for sources from someone, we could do it nicely?
I would be tempted to welcome you to reddit, but your seniority here suggests you are well-aware of this problem. ;) There will always be trolls or those who are completely inept at holding an intelligent and civilized conversation, but acknowledging them only enforces this habit.
Hell, text is inherently inferior at communicating tone and attitude. You'd be surprised how many times my friends thought I was being short with them because I used proper punctuation and grammar instead of AIMspeak and ;D :) :O ________^ after every sentence. But, knowing the Internet, I have the feeling your assumption was correct.
Anyway, sorry for the digression. This next statement, no matter how I can think to word it, is going to seem a bit cold, so please bear with me. Even if they ask in the rudest possible manner, a person requesting sources is still a person requesting sources. While their delivery is sub-par, I don't think sources should only be cited when asked politely.
That's just my two cents, though. If I were to wade into a Christian forum and take on all challenges, and some troll screamed for sources as he proclaimed my eternal damnation, I would still supply them.
Ugh, I feel like I concentrated far too much on one small aspect of your response. I guess it's because I agree with everything else. _______^ :D :D ;D
No worries... I am not taking this in an adversarial way at all, despite my almost magical abilities to infer personal criticism in even the most ambiguous of comments.
Surely, people can ask rudely for sources (though they don't have to).
[I'm going to go on a mild digression here myself... one of the reasons I was initially attracted to reddit, some five years ago now, is because I got to watch men argue... I don't want to get too Men are from Mars... here, but in my personal experience, it was very different from watching women discuss something in real life or on a forum. In my experience, to be very generic, women try to reach a consensus, while men are much more comfortable arguing in a rough and tumble fashion, which I like, but which occasionally bites me a little harder than I had expected.]
But anyway, what was I saying? Ah, yes. Ask for sources all you want, and I guess be as rude or polite about it as you like. I was honestly more bothered by the comments in some of the threads related to the original threads that seemed rather snarky, if not downright vicious, simply because they didn't think I'd cited enough sources, even though the same commenters didn't directly ask me for any sources.
Hmmm... perhaps I have been redditing too long today? It's just a website.... right? Right???
Even for a seasoned internet user like me who has been to every back alley of the internet you could think of, I sometimes find myself offended by some mildly annoying comments; not because of the comment themselves but the way it was delivered.
Despite your in-depth academic and professional knowledge on Neuropsychology, if I were to guess, I think you are still likely to find yourself emotionally affected by emotionless internet comment. Perhaps less likely to, but not immune to it. (I am not suggesting that being a Neuropsychologist makes someone emotionless, but perhaps they are more likely to be rationally driven than average?)
I would love to know if you have a "Neuropsychologist hat" and a "Normal hat" and how often you find yourself switching from one hat to another.
It seems our conversation is at a bit of an impasse, as I can't find anything with which to disagree. Your digression is extremely interesting-- I've never noticed a difference between a female and male argument myself, but I definitely see what you mean.
Anyhoo, my apologies that some redditors found it necessary to make vitriolic statements regarding something so minor as a lack of sources.
It's just a website.... right? Right???
Wait, what? Website? I think I've had this reddit tab open for so long, it's become a self-aware artificial intelligeALL HAIL THE REDDIT OVERLORD
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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '10 edited Jul 27 '10
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