[stevenAthompson]

"However, generalized responses, such as “family” or “friends,” as well as mentions of non-human sources like pets, were excluded from formal analyses."

They excluded everyone that had a large support network from the study.

[some_furry]

Oh, that explains it.

I was sitting here wondering how anyone has only two to begin with.

[drdec]

I had none for a very long time. Happy to report I have someone now.

Your dismissal of people with small emotional support networks angers me if I'm being honest.

[some_furry]

> Your dismissal of people with small emotional support networks

That's not what I was doing.

Like, I'm an extreme introvert. Most people are more extroverted than I am. Despite this, I have more than two close friends.

Whatever's causing some people to have small emotional support networks is something that should be studied by scientists, rather than taken for granted like this article does. Preventing unnecessary suffering is a net-positive for society.

But the article excluded the people who have more than two close friends, and kind of took that for granted. So I was responding to the article, not the circumstances other people suffer through.

I can see how someone could misread my comment to mean something else, but that wasn't what I was stating.

[drdec]

Thanks for responding and clarifying. My apologies for misreading your intent.

[some_furry]

Happens to everyone. Thanks for being cool about it.

[keybored]

> I was sitting here wondering how anyone has only two to begin with.

They might have zero for that matter since they might have a wife and 2.5 kids and living parents and the necessary number of close friends but be emotionally closed off to all of those. Does that explain things for you?

[some_furry]

No, it doesn't explain shit. You've only provided answers to "what?" questions, not "why?" questions.

Next question.

[keybored]

You were the one with the question.

[some_furry]

> Does that explain things for you?

Not the only one.

[keybored]

My rhetorical question was no a question.