Well, in the long term sense treating the communication as the failure rather than only looking at the reasoning is important here. Because if Nominull approaches the situation (which, admittedly I’ve been unable to locate) in the sense of “I was right, so there’s nothing more to it” then the communication won’t improve.
Being right is only a slim piece of the puzzle, the universe doesn’t care if you were right, nor do other people. What matters is what you say and do, and how you affect the situations around you. Those are very complex systems. And you can always get better at it. So we can all afford to pay attention and learn from what happens, especially when things don’t go quite as expected. The last thing we need is a moment of vindication or victory to rob us of the real rewards of the struggle, better understanding of how to face the next one.
Perhaps Nominull could have added “You may find it obscure, but how can you be so certain it was deliberately so?” But it’s not clear that this was needed in the local communication context with Phil, as his reply doesn’t seem to imply a misunderstanding of that nature.
On the other hand this site also has a pedagogical mission, so there is something to be said for being careful about the outer audience’s understanding.
Well, in the long term sense treating the communication as the failure rather than only looking at the reasoning is important here. Because if Nominull approaches the situation (which, admittedly I’ve been unable to locate) in the sense of “I was right, so there’s nothing more to it” then the communication won’t improve.
Being right is only a slim piece of the puzzle, the universe doesn’t care if you were right, nor do other people. What matters is what you say and do, and how you affect the situations around you. Those are very complex systems. And you can always get better at it. So we can all afford to pay attention and learn from what happens, especially when things don’t go quite as expected. The last thing we need is a moment of vindication or victory to rob us of the real rewards of the struggle, better understanding of how to face the next one.
Or the short version, “Pay attention.”
Here (from the “Inspired by” link in the OP)
Oh, that’s a fairly ambiguous case.
Perhaps Nominull could have added “You may find it obscure, but how can you be so certain it was deliberately so?” But it’s not clear that this was needed in the local communication context with Phil, as his reply doesn’t seem to imply a misunderstanding of that nature.
On the other hand this site also has a pedagogical mission, so there is something to be said for being careful about the outer audience’s understanding.