re: #345 Varek Raith

A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position.[1] To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

refutation was not the point. it is helpful to set upper and lower bounds during an attempt to understand where someone is coming from. once the limits of a thing are agreed upon, it’s easier to debate the details.

perhaps i am being less confrontational than we have been used to lately…? how lame have the trolls been if we thought that was a refutation=P