Bias

[Sunstone]

About two years ago, I noticed I was becoming increasingly reluctant to think I could learn much from someone's self-labels. I guess it took me that long to figure out they weren't very useful to go on. But then, I never paid them much attention in the first place. Still don't read most people's.

 

[Heyo]

I'm usually biased against anyone who joined this forum on a Tuesday.

Is that a reference to "on the net since Tuesday"? You aren't that old, are you?

 

[Heyo]

Imagine you are on this forum and you see a new poster. You see next to their name that they believe (or disbelieve) a certain thing, or have some sort of political alignment. Do you imediately decide something about their character based solely on that tag? Honestly, now...

For me? I'd say yes, it does happen. If I catch myself doing it, I do try to push aside my personal bias and get to the heart of things, though.

I answered "No" to the question but I'd have answered "yes" if the question had been about the title. I don't form an opinion on a single data point but I also don't ignore it. Each bit of information pushes me into a direction but only when the sum of information reaches a threshold, do I make a (preliminary) final decision.

 

[Estro Felino]

No...it has never happened to me.
Nationality, religion, skin color have never influenced me.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I don't tend to take whatever is put in tags seriously, but rather the content of any posts, and often it is quite easy to see where one might be coming from - such that I can agree/disagree on the content rather than because I might naturally be more inclined towards those apparently having much the same views as myself - which of course I am. I doubt any take seriously what I have put in tags - the latest are epithets grabbed from others and kindly directed at all us non-believers (or particularly one atheist or agnostic), even if a few might be true of me.

Not caring how one is viewed is a great boon in life.

 

[Stevicus]

Is that a reference to "on the net since Tuesday"? You aren't that old, are you?

No, it was just a weak attempt at humor. I've never heard the phrase "on the net since Tuesday." I've heard of Taco Tuesday, though.

 

[Heyo]

No, it was just a weak attempt at humor. I've never heard the phrase "on the net since Tuesday." I've heard of Taco Tuesday, though.

"on the net since Tuesday" was a strange meme of the '90s. Afaik, it stems from a rant about AOL users (pronounce "Ah - Oh - Loser") who were "on the net since Tuesday" and behaved like elephants in a china shop.
Strangely, the phrase made it into the .sig of many users, sometimes to announce that they where noobs, sometimes to mock them.