A lot of the mail I used to get back in the USS Clueless days used to set my teeth on edge. But it wasn't the hate mail that bothered me the most. I didn't actually get all that much.

What I really hated was people who could only see details and were obsessed with them. I could predict what kinds of things would cause them to respond.

Any time I wrote a categorical statement without including a disclaimer to the effect that exceptions existed, I'd get email telling me about the exceptions even if those exceptions were rare, unimportant, and completely irrelevant to the point I was trying to make. It caused me, eventually, to create this graphic:

For instance: "If you fall a long distance and land in a tree, you're going to die." Response, "Well, yeah, nearly always but sometimes you can live. Here's a web site with a list of people who have fallen long distances and survived." Why are you wasting my time with this? This is a blog about anime, not a scientific treatise. Let's not be like that, OK?

All categorical statements are subject to exceptions. But anything which is written to include all such exceptions is about as much fun to read as contract boilerplate. The goal here is to have fun, not to achieve absolute precision and accuracy. And there's no better way to ruin the fun for me than that kind of comment.

I'd put that graphic just above the "add comment" entry box, but I can't figure out which template to modify.

[The comment in question has been deleted. Please don't post anything like it again, OK?]

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Site Stuff at 05:15 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 264 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Well, you know, not ALL categorical statements are subject to exceptions; let's see if I can find that website that lists all of the categorically categorical statements... *gets flattened by the "No Pedantic Nitpicking" anvil*

Posted by: Just John at June 06, 2007 05:42 PM (LtbY1)

2 All categorical statements are subject to exceptions.

Only the Sith speak in absolutes.

*WHANG!*

Ow!  That anvil's working overtime....

Posted by: ubu roi at June 06, 2007 05:57 PM (nLobQ)

3 I need to find which episode of Animaniacs includes "The Please, Please, Please Get A Life Foundation"...

Posted by: GreyDuck at June 06, 2007 09:24 PM (2Yvi7)

4

Actually, I think  I figured out just what you need to do.

Go into your templates, look for the one called "Entry" of the "Page" type.

Between where it says [include item.post] and [include form.template], you put the image html. If you're looking at the main page and expand the comments, it won't show up. But as soon as you click to add a comment, it takes you to the page unique to that post and the image will show up just above the comment entry box. You can see where I did that right here.

Posted by: Will at June 06, 2007 10:06 PM (olS40)

5 If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
and other science facts
just repeat to yourself it's just a show
I should really just relax!

Posted by: Phil Fraering at June 06, 2007 10:11 PM (B3Uki)

6 Will, thankyou; that's good to know. I think I'm going to hold off for a while yet, though.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 06, 2007 11:08 PM (+rSRq)

7 Its really stupid anyway, given that the real reason anime characters survive falls into trees ( or anything else ) is because generally speaking, they are more durable than real humans.  I just assume that in an anime setting, nobody asks questions if you demonstrate minor ( or sometimes major! ) superhuman powers without apparent cause.

( I mean, look at Ranma 1/2.  Apparently practicing *any skill at all* leads to developing superhuman martial arts prowess. . . )

Posted by: metaphysician at June 07, 2007 03:17 AM (Od3fy)

8

"Mea maxima culpa", Steven - and *Thank you* for a remarkable site!

Posted by: Jim Horn at June 07, 2007 07:55 AM (iXyVV)

9

Posted by: Tatterdemalian at June 07, 2007 08:38 AM (e3zEj)

10 Damn, Meta got both "zxyxx" and "odefy" as hashes. Mine only spells "Easy J," which makes me sound even more like the world's lamest rap wannabe than "Tatter D."

Posted by: Tatterdemalian at June 07, 2007 08:42 AM (e3zEj)

11 "All categorical statements are subject to exceptions"

Except for tautological categorical statements.  Those don't have exceptions.  :-D

*turned to stone by SdB's glare*

Posted by: Ach at June 07, 2007 10:10 AM (qKCV0)

12 Tatter--move, or use a proxy server. 

The one I've been getting is not too bad.

Posted by: Rick C at June 07, 2007 10:33 AM (deCbf)

13 Whoops--never mind, it changed.  Waah.

Posted by: Rick C at June 07, 2007 10:42 AM (deCbf)

14 Sorry, you're not allowed to have a better hash than the site owner. No no-bot for you!

Posted by: Tatterdemalian at June 07, 2007 02:09 PM (e3zEj)

15 Everybody's got a better hash than mine. Mine sucks.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 07, 2007 02:19 PM (+rSRq)

16 Well, I always read yours as "TSRq", which sounds like a network format for RPGing or something.  Thats something, right?

( Even if D&D is roughly at the bottom of the role playing barrel, if somewhat above the real sludge. . . )

Posted by: metaphysician at June 07, 2007 04:07 PM (Od3fy)

17 D&D is like the Microsoft of role playing games. It's the one system every geek has used and abused. Fellow RPGers might not have the damndest idea what you're talking about when you mention Dunkelzahn, or Nyarlathotep, or the Brujah, or the Inner Sphere, or Skaven, but everyone has heard of Bigby of Greyhawk and his infamous line of hand-y spells.

Posted by: Tatterdemalian at June 07, 2007 05:41 PM (e3zEj)

18 Thread closed due to rampant topic drift.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 07, 2007 06:14 PM (+rSRq)

Hide Comments | Add Comment