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by LightHugger 1502 days ago
presumably that is why he listed both options separately.
1 comments

"For instance" means an example, not an alternative.
Ah, i see what you mean now. I read it the other way initially.
You can read it as you like.

It's the fine art of picking apart emails and internet comments for typos and grammar, rather than for meaning, and then nitpicking (referring to baawolf, not LightHugger).

I sometimes flip words when I type. I might have a completely wrong word, repeat something, omit a word, or otherwise. Others do that too. Part of that is typos, and part of that is rewriting as a type. I don't recall what I was thinking, but I suspect I started with "example," edited to "alternative," and didn't re-edit the whole post.

Others do similar things. Worse, plenty of people make errors on the internet. A few lessons I've learned:

- I stopped freaking out when Someone Is Wrong on the Internet. There's enough of that I don't need to correct all of it, and I don't think people doing that are performing much of a public service.

- I use throwaway accounts. Forums like this are more fun if I can talk naturally. I might have be aware of the fine distinctions between joint and half-ownership, but didn't spend hours proofreading a random internet comment, since that would take HN from a fine distraction to a chore. The internet is more fun if I e.g. don't need to be cancelled by the woke crowd over a typo. I think real names on Twitter are a horrible idea, since I'd never engage in any forum where I might be held publicly accountable for every mistake, braino, typo, and bad idea.

- Conversely, I look for smart things people say, insights, and good ideas. I simply ignore dumb ones. I read far-right, far-left, foreign propaganda, and other sources of questionable information. My experience is that there is a mixture of falsehoods and insights I wouldn't have come across elsewhere. I learn a lot. Plus, reading critically, I know what different groups are exposed to.

Oh -- and this is doubly true for WFH and emails. If you assume people always believe what they wrote (as opposed to omitting a "not" mid-sentence) -- you'll run into trouble.

That's an off-topic rant, but I hope it settles the question. I meant neither of those, and didn't edit that deeply.