It doesn’t seem to be working. I’d suggest a different approach.
(My own response to this sort of thing is usually “well, it doesn’t seem important and I haven’t been following it because [reasons], but now that you mention it, [rampant speculation].” This gets across that I don’t consider it a useful question, but still respects the other person and their desire to have a conversation.)
It doesn’t seem to be working. I’d suggest a different approach.
(My own response to this sort of thing is usually “well, it doesn’t seem important and I haven’t been following it because [reasons], but now that you mention it, [rampant speculation].” This gets across that I don’t consider it a useful question, but still respects the other person and their desire to have a conversation.)
The problem with that is that IME people will take my rampant speculation way too seriously.
Depends on the person. It’s perfectly possible that your rampant speculation is much better than anything they could come up with.
Well, if you get into an argument, you can always say “as I said, I don’t know much about this” and change the subject, right?