So, there is some normal sense where I might have a reason to want to them “legitimize” their criticism by identifying themselves (this reason is debatable, it could be weak or very strong).
But the first comments from this person aren’t just vitriolic and a personal attack, they are adamant demands for a significant amount of writing—they disagree greatly with me and so the explanation needed to bridge the opinion could be very long.
The content of this writing has consequences, which is hidden to people without the explanation.
Here, I have special additional reasons to know their identity, because the best way to communicate the underlying events and what my comment meant, depend on who they are.
Some explanations or accounts will be inflammatory, and others useless. For example, the person could be entirely new to EA, or be the OP themselves. Certain explanations, justification or “evidence”, could be hurtful and stir up wounds. Others won’t make sense at all.
In this situation, it’s reasonable to see the commenters demands impose the further, additional burdens on me of having to weigh this harm (just to defend my comment), which is hidden from them. Separately and additionally, I probably view this as particularly unfair, as from my perspective, I think the very reason/issue why I commented and why things are so problematic/sensitive, was because the original environment around the post was inflammatory and hard to approach by design.
Hmm I think I have some different ideas about discussion norms but not sure if I understand them coherently myself/think it’s worth going into. I agree it’s often worthwhile to not engage.
I think the very reason/issue why I commented and why things are so problematic/sensitive, was because the original environment around the post was inflammatory and hard to approach by design.
So, there is some normal sense where I might have a reason to want to them “legitimize” their criticism by identifying themselves (this reason is debatable, it could be weak or very strong).
But the first comments from this person aren’t just vitriolic and a personal attack, they are adamant demands for a significant amount of writing—they disagree greatly with me and so the explanation needed to bridge the opinion could be very long.
The content of this writing has consequences, which is hidden to people without the explanation.
Here, I have special additional reasons to know their identity, because the best way to communicate the underlying events and what my comment meant, depend on who they are.
Some explanations or accounts will be inflammatory, and others useless. For example, the person could be entirely new to EA, or be the OP themselves. Certain explanations, justification or “evidence”, could be hurtful and stir up wounds. Others won’t make sense at all.
In this situation, it’s reasonable to see the commenters demands impose the further, additional burdens on me of having to weigh this harm (just to defend my comment), which is hidden from them. Separately and additionally, I probably view this as particularly unfair, as from my perspective, I think the very reason/issue why I commented and why things are so problematic/sensitive, was because the original environment around the post was inflammatory and hard to approach by design.
Hmm I think I have some different ideas about discussion norms but not sure if I understand them coherently myself/think it’s worth going into. I agree it’s often worthwhile to not engage.
I agree with this.