I got the following comment, and puzzled over it a while before clearing it:
“I think that most people know that something is wrong, even if they are snowed about what, exactly. It seems that the truth must out soon, whether it is a disaster or not. Shari”
Comment by Anonymous
How did “Shari” get in a comment by Anonymous?
I think the new title Anonymous is using is Libanon, which is more informative.
As long as it doesn’t embarrass Shari, all I want is the comment. This one certainly
couldn’t embarrass her.
But I LIKE the fact that this confusion occurred. Maybe the machine gave me “Anonymous.”
Maybe Shari got mixed up.
All this relates to an entirely different point Joe and I are discussing.
Joe says that false statements hurt one’s credibility.
This is true.
But we also have very little space, and we have to make our points at the sacrifice of credibility. As I said, none of the most hostile reviews even mentioned some egrecious factual errors in Plague.
If those points had been central to my argument, you had better believe they would have shown up big time.
So you have to face the fact that everything you say is not EXACTLY true.
So somewhere along the line, a computer or Shari made an error.
I wanted Shari’s comment.
Strictly speaking the person I have always referred to as Anonymous either did not write this or made an error. So by blindly repeating what I have here my credibility is shot.
That’s not the way I judge things.
My question is, “Would this embarrass Shari?”
No.
I want the comment in, it lets me make a point and it will not embarrass Shari.
As to my credibility, if anyone is that much of a nit-picker I can’t reach them.
As Joe says, credibility is critical, particularly if you are as far out as I am.
But I have a weapon. Anyone who critiques me dreads the title “nit-picker.” It destroys THEIR credibility. It makes THEM look desperate.
So I am on another knife-edge. I have always been the one who said the unsayable and just barely kept it within the limits. There is no rule-book for doing that.
I am on a knife-edge between saying things plainly and saying things WRONG.
The only rulebook I have for that is you.
And if you don’t correct me, Joe will skewer me.
#1 by Anonymous on 12/28/2005 - 1:31 pm
I wrote that. No idea how it came to be under anonymus. Shari
#2 by LibAnon on 12/28/2005 - 4:40 pm
The machine (i.e., WordPress, the blog software used by Bob’s hosting provider) automatically assigns the name “Anonymous” to any commenter who, by choice or by accident, leaves the “Name” field blank.
#3 by Peter on 12/28/2005 - 6:12 pm
Did you forget to type “Shari” into the little “Name” box?
#4 by joe rorke on 12/28/2005 - 9:54 pm
Speaking of nit-picking and credibility and whether or not it exists, I am reminded of an earlier piece of yours wherein you mentioned that you had on this blog “slapped someone down.” My reaction was “if this man intends to gather allies of any kind he ought to be extremely careful not to “slap anyone down.” That is not a way to gain an allie. That is a way to drive people away. It is possible that you may drive away potentially helpful allies that might well cause your ship to sail. I have seen this happen on more than one occasion. Usually, the bludgeoner does not have enough sense to know what he has done. He just stands there holding a bag full of nothing and wondering why. He has lost his credibility with his potential allies not because they have carefully reasoned out his propositions but because they simply don’t want to be on a team where they are going to be bludgeoned. There’s more than one way to lose credibility.