A vague rant.

[Arkady]

One of the most frustrating things one can encounter on a site like this is a situation where you could demolish an argument if only you were free to share information, but for whatever reason you need to censor yourself. This has come up for me a few times. I'm a corporate lawyer, so I've had information I couldn't share because of attorney/client privilege, or because it was inside information, or because of a confidentiality agreement. I've had other information I didn't want to disclose, even though legally able to, just because it would compromise my anonymity, by revealing my employer, or my wife's employer, or my hometown, etc. It's frustrating as hell, because you can hear people going on and on about something, getting all the facts wrong, and you can't speak up to set the facts right. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this. It must also come up, for example, with people who have learned things through intelligence clearances, that they aren't allowed to share. It's so annoying.

 

[imreallyperplexed]

Arkady,

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, I feel your frustration.

Nevertheless, for the sort of folks who dismiss the vast majority of climate science opinion on global warming out of hand, I suspect that the folks that you might want to share your information with might dismiss that information out of hand as well. That is life in the blogosphere.

One of the most frustrating things one can encounter on a site like this is a situation where you could demolish an argument if only you were free to share information, but for whatever reason you need to censor yourself. This has come up for me a few times. I'm a corporate lawyer, so I've had information I couldn't share because of attorney/client privilege, or because it was inside information, or because of a confidentiality agreement. I've had other information I didn't want to disclose, even though legally able to, just because it would compromise my anonymity, by revealing my employer, or my wife's employer, or my hometown, etc. It's frustrating as hell, because you can hear people going on and on about something, getting all the facts wrong, and you can't speak up to set the facts right. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experiences this. It must also come up, for example, with people who have learned things through intelligence clearances, that they aren't allowed to share. It's so annoying.

 

[Arkady]

Arkady,

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, I feel your frustration.

Nevertheless, for the sort of folks who dismiss the vast majority of climate science opinion on global warming out of hand, I suspect that the folks that you might want to share your information with might dismiss that information out of hand as well. That is life in the blogosphere.

True. In at least one case, though, I could illustrate a point even, I think, to their satisfaction, but it would seriously compromise my anonymity and piss off a client. So it goes.

 

[Mytzlplk]

I've never had that problem, having found the "facts" to be adequate. In debate of the kind we engage in here, and the issues we cover, it's hard to imagine what more would be needed.

 

[Jen]

I have experienced that more than once here and other places. But some facts just cannot be shared. You know and likely we all know that sometimes things must just be swallowed.