[neohaven]

From GP: > no matter what network traffic is occurring.

The chain described there is "possible network traffic", and would be a valid type of network traffic, "while-meaning-to" if we so please, but there is no way to distinguish that and it is thus meaningless to code.

A device that would never reboot, no matter what network traffic is occurring, would never allow you to reboot it remotely... SSH is network traffic. Your SSH authentication also is.

The point wasn't about the Roku, it was a pointed reply to that particular point, I think. :)

[benchaney]

I really wish we could stamp out this excessive pedantry. It is completely clear what OP meant. There is no need to pretend we are robots.

[Kaiyou]

I really wish people would be more precise in their language. Often, it is completely unclear to me what people mean. I'm too autistic to properly read "beween the lines".

[IIAOPSW]

Pedantry is necessary if we are going to talk about computer bugs and flaws in the intended behaviour of systems (AKA the "hacker" part of "hackernews"). I hope we never change.

[StuffedParrot]

I know many hackers who can communicate just fine without redirecting conversation to a debate over the meaning of words. Semantics are trivial to clarify. Pedantry honestly has very little to do with building things except when resolving miscommunication.

Besides, words have multiple meanings, and there are many floating signifiers in the world. Correcting diction without an acknowledgment of intent might as well be pissing into the wind.

On a personal level, aimless pedantry is a terrible attribute in people you work with, and these people can be toxic to productivity.

[Agentlien]

We may not be robots, but our code is still run by machines which are incredibly pedantic. Any imprecissions which require human intuition to untangle won't help solve practical problems.

[benchaney]

Hackernews comments don’t get run on anything. Not to mention that they are imprecise anyway because they are written in English.