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 | This page in a nutshell: You can't include an insult by using "or", you can't choose the bad word instead of the good, and expect to be WP:CIVIL |
We've all done it. Someone comes out with something outrageous, they couldn't be more wrong - nobody in their right mind could believe it. They must be either stoopid or lyin'.
It's not OK
editSTOP! Even if you believe it, even if it is true, this or any of the million variants are personal attacks.
Firstly - AGF, they are not lying. Second ..Stupid? Ignorant? - how about "mistaken" or "wrong". Better still, how about being cooperative rather than confrontational.
- I think you are mistaken...
- The sources seem to support a different view...
- I would be interested to hear why you say that...
No really, it just isn't
edit- Someone justified this approach as "it is true it is a tautology" - on that basis he could have said "ignorant or lying or a racist" for example. Not helpful.
- Adding adjectives generally makes it a worse insult "deliberately lying" "appallingly ignorant" - maybe "slightly ignorant" is less cutting, but "ignorant" is widely perceived as an insult.
Especially because
editSometimes they turn out to be right!
Examples
edit | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
- 2 points for each real life entry by another editor you find using this trope dated 2013 or later.
- 10 points for every example of me (RF) using it - and I fear I probably have.
- "either ignorant of the way that the judiciary interpret laws, or deliberately lying"