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Same reason that people run community gardens, or set up trusts to maintain local trails. Because they care. Maybe some things, like human relationships and co
by plastiquebeech 4y ago
Same reason that people run community gardens, or set up trusts to maintain local trails. Because they care.
Maybe some things, like human relationships and communication, are better off without a profit motive.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoThere is still a profit motive there, the dictionary definition of profit isn't limited to just monetary profit.
- plastiquebeech 4y agoFair enough. I would still rather have a diverse ecosystem of power-tripping moderators than a few unavoidable ones, though. There would probably be more calm tidal pools like the one that dang cultivates here.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoIf the average community size was smaller, wouldn't the average 'power-tripping moderatos' within each community need to behave more strongly over fewer folks to maintain the same level of satisfaction?
- andrewflnr 4y agoThis is dangerously close to equivocating on "profit motive". "Profit", as actually used, is almost always meant in the strictly monetary sense, not as a synonym with "for a benefit", which is very broad. When the "benefit" becomes "I personally feel good about helping", comparing it to making money is inaccurate at best.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoIt's possible to discuss things according to their dictionary definition.
- andrewflnr 4y agoBut more often it's useless. If you're trying to communicate with someone who's clearly not using the dictionary definition, it's probably only good for detangling their actual usage, aka meta-argument. In this case, certainly, you did not address the substance of their argument with your objection about the definition of "profit". Also, I don't know what dictionary you're looking at. These all seem pretty money-focused to me. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/profit_1 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng... https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/profit https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/profi... https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profit https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profit
- MichaelZuo 4y agoIf you closely inspect a dictionary you can see that there can be multiple meanings for a given word. Visiting your last link for Merriam-Webster, you will see a '1 of 2' and a '2 of 2' beside these distinct meanings.
- andrewflnr 4y agoBut you're going to "well actually" someone's comment based on the second definition when they're using the first, rather than actually communicate. Makes perfect sense.
- MichaelZuo 4y agoSo do you now understand how a dictionary can list multiple meanings? If there’s still a comprehension difficulty dictionaries usually contain an explanatory guide as to how things work.
- andrewflnr 4y agoI've always understood how a dictionary entry can have multiple meanings. You're the one who started off citing "the" dictionary definition. Whereas my point since the start has been that the dictionary definition is barely relevant to good-faith communication, which tries to understand what the other person means and engage with that. Even if they're using the number 1 definition, and you'd rather use number 2.