Larry’s field notes definitely needs to be preserved. You know- for science! -Jack

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Let me clue you guys in.

A common tactic used by dishonest bully assholes is to pretend that the internet is a real place, which functions on the same rules of civility as in real life conversations.

When they see someone saying something they don’t like, they weaponize the unstated rules of discourse by swooping in and “only asking questions”.

Because in normal face to face human interaction when someone asks you a question, you usually answer it. That’s the default path.

So you answer. The dishonest trash ignores that and asks another. Repeat. Again. Repeat. Again. And they aren’t just simple questions. They are homework assignments.

Deep down on an instinctual level dishonest pricks understand the Brandollini Principle. So they throw out some little bullshit, knowing it will take you an order of magnitude more effort to refute that bullshit than to create it.

Even worse, this type of asshole travels in packs. So no matter how many times you do one homework assignment for a stranger, there’s a dozen others in the comments doing the same thing. All of them willfully ignoring the answers you already provided to the others.

Now, because these are profoundly dishonest people and there is no actual honest engagement at play, they will bury you in bullshit until the polite victim finally says enough and gets snappy OR they will ask a question which is too complex to explain, doesn’t have a real answer, or is just so pointless no one will bother.

At that point the dishonest fake civility people will pounce. Because by failing or refusing to answer them, they declare that you have broken the rules of civility. They win. You lose. You suck.

Of course these rules of civility are a one way street. At no point do they honestly answer the people asking them questions. They might spend 30 seconds on Google and paste the first headline they think agrees with them (and they never read the article) but you have to write them a thesis with annotated bibliography or else. Which they will ignore anyway, and then demand you write another.

In real life if some fucking bum comes up to you asking bullshit questions because he wants to take advantage of you “nice” people get trapped, and now you’re in a conversation you never wanted about how he needs to borrow $20 for gas money because his baby mamma got a job interview and blah blah blah until he robs you.

These fuckers are that, only online.

So just like the in real life bullshit panhandler addict loser, you can either play their game or be assertive and tell them to fuck off. Both versions get super upset when you refuse to play by the fake rules of civility.

How can you tell a lying, time sucking bum, from an honest person who is seeking good faith discussion. Oh there’s many tells. The liars stink.

So they know they’re full of shit. We know they’re full of shit. They know that we know. We know that they know that we know. So why should we waste time pretending?

When you get one of these time sucking assholes, just skip to where you know you’re gonna end up anyway. If you feel like answering questions ONLY do it for the audience. Anything else is a waste.
EDIT: for Internet Zoology purposes this type of creature will be called a Time Sucking Cockwomble.