How Do You Argue?
As the community is growing and the threads (especially in the Reader Blogs) are getting long, I've been thinking a lot about how we can encourage a culture of discussion here at TPMCafe. Rules and software tools are good (and I'm sure some folks will have advice on that count), but I'm of the school of thought that you should only go there if you can't solve the problem with community culture. In other words, if we can collectively come to an understanding of what you can and can't do here, and collectively push back when folks violate TPMCafe cultural norms, explicit management moderation or comment ratings may not be necessary.
Then this morning, I found a chart (after the break).
(Chart from Web Strategy)
It struck me as a perfect guide to good commenting. Reach for the top of the pyramid, and all will be well.
The bottom two I thought were fairly obvious. Calling people names, ad hominem. This is obviously worthless to the community. And the top three obviously quite valuable. The tone argument doesn't always bother me, but it's worth pinpointing for what it is.
I actually find contradiction the most irritating. When someone just writes "you're wrong, x is true," it makes me want to tear my hair out. It's purely a way for the commenter to register disapproval and gives the opponent no means of defending themselves by not offering any counter argument. It's the lazy coward's way of commenting.
What do you guys think? Are there other comment types missing from the pyramid? Do you agree on contradiction?
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