Gotcha!

[Martinus]

For what it's worth, I find grumbler's and Yi's debating styles to be most infuriating. grumbler is a classic "gotcha" debater, always willing to pick on details and misinterpreting the heck out of them, and Yi is an artful dodger, always refusing to state his position in a clear manner.

[DGuller]

Sometimes you catch your opponents with a pretty bad argument, and they're taking a cheap way out in those moments, attacking you with well-known laundry list of complaints.  Claiming gotcha arguments on your part is just one such cheap out that they're occasionally employing.

That said, sometimes you really do switch into a mode where you nitpick your opponent's posts as a general principle.  You know he's going to say something wrong, it's just a matter of waiting for him to actually post something so that you'll have something to quote in your next nitpicking post.  It's very obvious when that happens, and it's annoying to observe (and I imagine it's even more annoying to be the subject of such affection).

[mongers]

.....
That said, sometimes you really do switch into a mode where you nitpick your opponent's posts as a general principle.  You know he's going to say something wrong, it's just a matter of waiting for him to actually post something so that you'll have something to quote in your next nitpicking post.  It's very obvious when that happens, and it's annoying to observe (and I imagine it's even more annoying to be the subject of such affection).

Affectation might have been a better choice here.   

[Malthus]

.....
That said, sometimes you really do switch into a mode where you nitpick your opponent's posts as a general principle.  You know he's going to say something wrong, it's just a matter of waiting for him to actually post something so that you'll have something to quote in your next nitpicking post.  It's very obvious when that happens, and it's annoying to observe (and I imagine it's even more annoying to be the subject of such affection).

Affectation might have been a better choice here.   

I see what you did there. 

[The Brain]

In recent weeks both Grumbler* and Yi have accused me of "Gotcha" posting.  I'm not quite sure exactly what that means.  Yi went on to say I didn't have the "moral authority" to judge his posts.  Again, I don't quite understand what he means that.  It is true that I do sometimes find inconsistencies in people's arguments but that seems fair.  They aren't my arguments, the inconsistencies would exist even if I didn't point them out, and I've found that challenging assumptions and the like is an effective way of countering some of the more ludicrous arguments by some Languish posters.  It's clear that I don't quite understand all this, after all, I am an uneducated maniac.  Sometimes I need things explained to me in simple terms.

So help me fellow Languishnistas, help me find the error of my ways.  So that I might aspire to the peerless debating style of people like Yi and Grumbler.


*I don't actually care what Grumbler thinks. He's now ignoring me and I'm remarkably fine with that.

Why did you post this (non-rhetorical)?

[fhdz]

Why did you post this (non-rhetorical)?

He's building an Enemies List.

[jimmy olsen]

I don't understand why Raz is so hung up on this.

I think that Yi has been quite unfair to Raz. Though he certainly approaches things from an odd perspective that I don't often agree with he does so with a consistent, though flawed, logic. 

[Ed Anger]

Why did you post this (non-rhetorical)?

He's building an Enemies List.

Please. This list is anemic.

[dps]

For what it's worth, I find grumbler's and Yi's debating styles to be most infuriating. grumbler is a classic "gotcha" debater, always willing to pick on details and misinterpreting the heck out of them, and Yi is an artful dodger, always refusing to state his position in a clear manner.

While I wouldn't quite say "always" in either case, in general I think Marti is right on this.  OTOH, I think Raz's style is sometimes fairly similar to grumbler's, but with less clarity of thought.

[Razgovory]

I think I'm getting better with the clarity of thought.  I've been taking a new med for the last year and it's slowed down my thought processes and made them a bit more orderly.

[Capetan Mihali]

Raz, I think you may want to stop pulling the insanity card all the time.  Sometimes it's funny, but sometimes it comes off, at least to me, as a little duplicitous: you want to be treated seriously, except when you don't.

[Razgovory]

Raz, I think you may want to stop pulling the insanity card all the time.  Sometimes it's funny, but sometimes it comes off, at least to me, as a little duplicitous: you want to be treated seriously, except when you don't.

It's the only card I have.  It's not like I got a bunch of aces up my sleeve.

[Capetan Mihali]

Raz, I think you may want to stop pulling the insanity card all the time.  Sometimes it's funny, but sometimes it comes off, at least to me, as a little duplicitous: you want to be treated seriously, except when you don't.

It's the only card I have.  It's not like I got a bunch of aces up my sleeve.

You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them.

[Sophie Scholl]

Raz, I think you may want to stop pulling the insanity card all the time.  Sometimes it's funny, but sometimes it comes off, at least to me, as a little duplicitous: you want to be treated seriously, except when you don't.

It's the only card I have.  It's not like I got a bunch of aces up my sleeve.

If it's all you have, you should use it sparingly for best effect.  Mihali is right though, it seems to pop up in far too many of your posts. P.S., it is grumbler, not Grumbler.  He's a stickler for getting his name right, as I've found out in the past.

[Razgovory]

Never was good at poker.  The thing about insanity is that it's not just a gimmick, it's something I think about every day.  I prefer to use the "occasionally clever and insightful" card on rare occasions.  So perhaps I have two cards.