The Gentleperson's Guide To Forum Spies

[patrice]

94. It shouldn't be ignored. But we should discuss how to avoid false positives, since those,

intended or not, will fulfill agent mike's mission.

To me, this means we should begin by discussing the list item by item and then apply it item by item and in applying it, we should avoid beginning with accusations and use questions instead, socratic questioning, and be willing to honestly accept proffered answers, unless and until it becomes necessary to do otherwise and if it does become "necessary" to no longer accept an answer, the process should be lather-rinse-repeat, i.e. do not begin with accusations.

The reason it is important not to begin with accusations is because that fulfills agent mike's mission. Questions pose the opportunity to learn and explicate and if someone doesn't want to answer, well then that has to be accepted too without accusation, but of course it would be interesting if it is a dominant pattern though it could just mean the person is incapable of answering and isn't hiding an agenda that is destructive to the discourse here.