“I’ve asked them all, and I have nothing to show for it.”
…
“Let me disclose first that I have no idea how to fix this problem.”
I’m unsure what “nothing to show for it” means? I want to recommend that you have intensive (in the sense of contentful rather than combative) arguments, try to identify weakpoints in their reasoning (or excuses, as the case may be), and then write up your analysis for others to read. However you may already have tried to argue the issue, and came out the other end with nothing worth analysing. On the other hand, you may have had unintense arguments, in which case it seems like a substantive discussion is the first port of call. On second thought, a substantive discussion is called for in both cases, since if you come out with nothing worth analysing then the discussion wasn’t substantive after all!
PS. This is my first comment on this site, I’m not familiar with the etiquette surrounding introductions and (http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/FAQ#Site_Etiquette_and_Social_Norms) doesn’t contain any information on that point. Let me know if there’s any introductory rituals I would be remiss to ignore.
“I’ve asked them all, and I have nothing to show for it.” … “Let me disclose first that I have no idea how to fix this problem.”
I’m unsure what “nothing to show for it” means? I want to recommend that you have intensive (in the sense of contentful rather than combative) arguments, try to identify weakpoints in their reasoning (or excuses, as the case may be), and then write up your analysis for others to read. However you may already have tried to argue the issue, and came out the other end with nothing worth analysing. On the other hand, you may have had unintense arguments, in which case it seems like a substantive discussion is the first port of call. On second thought, a substantive discussion is called for in both cases, since if you come out with nothing worth analysing then the discussion wasn’t substantive after all!
PS. This is my first comment on this site, I’m not familiar with the etiquette surrounding introductions and (http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/FAQ#Site_Etiquette_and_Social_Norms) doesn’t contain any information on that point. Let me know if there’s any introductory rituals I would be remiss to ignore.
There’s a Welcome Thread that you might want to check out!