Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Aristocles]

I am aspiring to be more concise. Some of these posts helped with that aspiration. Some parts were contradictory to things I value more. I have been forced to learn social media communication. I have learned the hard way all capital letters are offensive. I have learned rote reason can feel good when juxtaposed with an emoji. I have you all to thank for improving my concision, diction, language expression, emotional distortion, rational inconsistency, and social entertainment. I appreciate you most as philosophical partners.

[Renee]

I think you went on too long.

Your clarity was lost in overexplaining your point.

Lastly, I wish there were logic involved, in addition to the four points you insist on to include in philosophical discussions on these forums.

[Cirrus]

The seed post of this thread contains some good advice, and following it would help develop some valuable skills. For what it's worth, from the perspective of a newbie, it would be handy if the post included a summary, i.e. a condensed list at the start or end, to make the suggestions clear to the reader, who could then keep them clearly in mind while reading the details of their rationale. I've noticed that other members have posted here that they'd like to develop skills such as concision and clarity. Another idea/suggestion: Some way of providing feedback on posts would be an excellent way of both helping members improve their writing as well as encouraging improvement of the quality of the writing we contribute to the site, by better meeting the standards outlined in this thread.

By the way, the need for an additional rule about overusing metaphors says a lot about the kinds of members on these forums! It's hilarious, and I probably need to be told this as much as anyone. I'll do my best, and take it as a sign that I'm in the right place.

[Ormond]

....make your post as concise and clear as possible.

Agreed.

-- Updated April 26th, 2016, 9:11 am to add the following --

....make your post as concise and clear as possible.

Agreed.

-- Updated April 26th, 2016, 9:11 am to add the following --

....make your post as concise and clear as possible.

Agreed.

-- Updated April 26th, 2016, 9:11 am to add the following --


(Nested quote removed.)

Also, never hit the quote button thinking that it's the edit button!

[Nick_A]

“To clarify thought, to discredit the intrinsically meaningless words, and to define the use of others by precise analysis—to do this, strange though it may appear, might be a way of saving human lives.”—Simone Weil

Typical Simone causing trouble. This woman had a lot of nerve. She didn't realize that if what she suggests were ever adopted in life, much less on an internet forum, it would deny the virtually essential psychological need to BS. This would be intolerable. For example it would destroy the whole Interfaith movement. Without BS, there would be no political correctness. Then where would we be.

[Fan of Science]

I actually left another philosophy forum because there were two users on there who were following me around and making nothing but personal attacks on me, while ignoring the substance of my arguments. Because the administrators did nothing to stop them, and nothing I tried could convince them to leave me alone, I left the group, publicly stating the reason why I left. So, I'm glad to see someone make a specific point about not being personally abusive towards another person when one is engaged in a philosophical debate. It's rare to find any social media forum that condemns such immaturity.

[Commonsense2]

Scott,

This is awesome!

Scott wrote:
"....make your post as concise and clear as possible.

Agreed.

-- Updated April 26th, 2016, 9:11 am to add the following --

Scott wrote:
....make your post as concise and clear as possible.

Agreed.

-- Updated April 26th, 2016, 9:11 am to add the following --

Ormond wrote:
Scott wrote:
....make your post as concise and clear as possible.

Agreed.

-- Updated April 26th, 2016, 9:11 am to add the following --

(Nested quote removed.)

Also, never hit the quote button thinking that it's the edit button!"


Not only is this post an example of the quote/edit button troubles you deplore, but furthermore, it is offered with a subliminal sense of humor.
(Alternatively: This post humorously exemplifies its content.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I suppose the subject, "The Need for Concision and Clarity on the Philosophy Forums" is another example of your sense of humor, right?

It could use a taste of its own medicine. I mean, concision employs as few words as possible to convey as much information as necessary. So, I would revise the topic to the following: "Be Concise" (ha!).

Now, that I have had my fun, I am challenging probably all the members and guests who are maybe reading this, to try and make this sentence, i.e. the one that is right here before their eyes, a little more brief, so to speak, but complete in a way that conveys the information in readable fashion if they have some time on your hands.

Maybe that was too easy. Here's a challenge that requires more perspicuity:

Be concise.

-- Updated July 24th, 2017, 4:35 pm to add the following --

I meant try to make the sentence, "Be concise.," more concise.

[Hepiaaro]

I think most people here could take a pointer from Steven Pinker.

"Many experiments have shown that readers understand and remember material far better when it is expressed in concrete language that allows them to form visual images..We are primates, with a third of our brains dedicated to vision, and large swaths devoted to touch, hearing, motion, and space. For us to go from “I think I understand” to “I understand,” we need to see the sights and feel the motions. " (Steven Pinker, 2015).

Using an example from these forums. Instead of writing.

The skeptic observation is that there exist scenarios in which our perceptions, or even the very construction of propositions, can be manipulated such that "P is true" is actually false but we can't tell.

Write something like this

Suppose we assume that P is true. A good sceptic will ask: "We assume that P is true, but what if isn't? What if it is actually false, but we can't tell?".

[Frewah]

These are good recommendations and I hope people read your posts. There’s a book, The Elements of Style, that I would recommend. Alas, my spell checker is only aware of Swedish. Metaphores can definitely be overused and I would like to add that if you want something to be understood as a metaphor, you should say do.

[Pattern-chaser]

Metaphores can definitely be overused and I would like to add that if you want something to be understood as a metaphor, you should say do.

Metaphors are inextricably mixed into our languages. We don't even notice them. For instance, rivers do not literally run; they don't have legs with which to do so. This "run" is a metaphor. See Lakoff and Johnson's "Metaphors we live by" for a fascinating journey into metaphor.

[Repoman05]

Excuse me but I think it's really easy for an admin to lecture about being clear and concise when they're the only ones that have access to an edit function. Everyone else has to put up with a dissertation vaporising in a puff of internet code. This makes us either have to post raw thoughts ever few seconds or face the ever looming threat of oblivion.

I do not stand by OP.

[Repoman05]

Proof-reading your posts not only allows you to fix spelling and grammar errors, but it also allows you to make sure it is as clear and concise as possible.

"edit" if you have it, use it maybe? What's more disrespectful: making a mistake, or, continuing to make a mistake.

[Repoman05]

A philosophical question?

[Steve3007]

Everyone else has to put up with a dissertation vaporising in a puff of internet code.

If it's going to take a while to write and you don't want to risk losing it, I suggest writing your post in something like Notepad first and then copying/pasting it into the forum. The only problem with that is that you have to write all the square-brackety tags, like the quote tag, manually. But you get used to that.

[Repoman05]

Yeah, I'm in the Philippines on a cheap cell phone. Be glad it turns out as well as it does.