• Onno (VK6FLAB)@lemmy.radio
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    What about learning these phrases instead:

    • I believe
    • I seem to recall
    • As I understand it
    • It seems to me that
    • In my experience

    In other words, make it clear to the reader what your level of skill or knowledge is.

    Whilst chewing on that, consider adding a source if you have one (or six).

    Source: I’ve been here a while and it’s stood me in good stead during online (and offline) conversation over the decades.

      • MarxMadness@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        3 months ago

        If you’re actually informed, couching your opinion like this dulls its impact for no good reason. It’s good to speak/write confidently when you have cause to be confident.

        Hedging is great for situations where you aren’t confident, but should otherwise be used sparingly.

    • ButtBidet [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      3 months ago

      I fully support this, and I do this too. It saves me from looking like a dickhead. Honestly I won’t drop one of the “I believe” modifiers until after 10+ hours (usually 30+ hours) of not social media reading on a topic.