Huh. I believe you, but it has literally never entered my mind to go out of my way to tell someone they’re wrong without any attempt to correct their wrongness. What a weird thing to do.
Sure, but when I’m replying to someone in any context I’m responding to that person and what they said. It being a public forum just means new lines of discussion with other individuals can offshoot from a single comment, with an added layer of public opinion in the form of upvotes and downvotes. Unless explicitly stated, the only posts that I perceive as speaking to the forum as a whole are original posts and oftentimes top level comments on those posts.
It’s not like that at all.
Oh shit, you’ve convinced me. You’re right!
I wasn’t trying to convince you of anything.
Huh. I believe you, but it has literally never entered my mind to go out of my way to tell someone they’re wrong without any attempt to correct their wrongness. What a weird thing to do.
It’s a public forum. When I post comments, I keep in mind that there’s an audience of more than just the one person I’m replying to.
…and you are addressing the rest of that audience how?
Sure, but when I’m replying to someone in any context I’m responding to that person and what they said. It being a public forum just means new lines of discussion with other individuals can offshoot from a single comment, with an added layer of public opinion in the form of upvotes and downvotes. Unless explicitly stated, the only posts that I perceive as speaking to the forum as a whole are original posts and oftentimes top level comments on those posts.