We seem to disagree about that. Naked assertions are not particularly effective arguments.
The claim was not naked until you stripped it of clothing by selectively quoting it out of the context of a paragraph of explanation. Your move is not ‘effective’ unless aimed at users who approve of disingenuous rhetoric.
By the way, the “accusation of a specific reasoning failure” is aimed pretty specifically at your heavy-handed implication that I am a Christian.
I repeat the contradiction of this claim that I spent paragraphs explaining in the previous comment.
A piece of well-intentioned advice: When you’re involved in a disagreement, responding to someone’s argument with “LOL” or a smiley emoticon signals dismissiveness and borderline hostility. It seemed to me in places that you were actively trying to turn the discussion into a spat. Since it appears that this was not actually your intention, you might reconsider that particular (easily-adjusted, I think) rhetorical tic.
That is (for me) a considerably stronger version which would generally imply that I consider the poster beyond the hope of redemption and am about to get medieval on his ass :-D
responding to someone’s argument with “LOL” or a smiley emoticon signals dismissiveness and borderline hostility
In my usual vocabulary, it does signal dismissiveness, but not hostility. Unrolled, it says “Your point/argument/position does not pass the laugh test, I consider your assertion ridiculous, either reconsider it or provide strong support”.
As to smileys in my posts, they are “adjectives” for my own words and usually serve to soften the impact (e.g. explicitly show lack of hostility).
It seemed the discussion turned into a spat. I apologize for my role in this transformation and bow out.
Sometimes interaction strategies are not mutually beneficial. In such cases non-engagement is a practical and all to often neglected option. Wise move.
The claim was not naked until you stripped it of clothing by selectively quoting it out of the context of a paragraph of explanation. Your move is not ‘effective’ unless aimed at users who approve of disingenuous rhetoric.
I repeat the contradiction of this claim that I spent paragraphs explaining in the previous comment.
It seemed the discussion turned into a spat. I apologize for my role in this transformation and bow out.
A piece of well-intentioned advice: When you’re involved in a disagreement, responding to someone’s argument with “LOL” or a smiley emoticon signals dismissiveness and borderline hostility. It seemed to me in places that you were actively trying to turn the discussion into a spat. Since it appears that this was not actually your intention, you might reconsider that particular (easily-adjusted, I think) rhetorical tic.
I use “Are you fucking kidding me” for that. (I only feel the need to do that once every couple of years, though.)
That is (for me) a considerably stronger version which would generally imply that I consider the poster beyond the hope of redemption and am about to get medieval on his ass :-D
In my usual vocabulary, it does signal dismissiveness, but not hostility. Unrolled, it says “Your point/argument/position does not pass the laugh test, I consider your assertion ridiculous, either reconsider it or provide strong support”.
As to smileys in my posts, they are “adjectives” for my own words and usually serve to soften the impact (e.g. explicitly show lack of hostility).
Sometimes interaction strategies are not mutually beneficial. In such cases non-engagement is a practical and all to often neglected option. Wise move.