michael_nielsen

I'm worried that even asking this question is violating "Yes, and" culture, but: What *is* "Yes, and" culture? Is it about sharing cool things, rather than expressing opinions? (Or does it mean expressing opinions, but not expressing disagreement w/others' opinions?)

It’s a term from improv theatre, used to enable very good improvisational performances: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and … Roughly, it means accepting what the other has said, and riffing in a direction inspired by it, not blocking.

It’s possible to violate, but usually requires considerable skill and a lot of established context. For similar reasons, online argument & judgement often fails.

You may be amused: I explicitly think in terms of a “Julia exception” (I swear I’m not making this up): you so consistently argue in good faith that it’s possible to argue productively with you even within the rather restrictive confines of Twitter.

For most people - even people I like a great deal and who I find it easy to argue with in person - Twitter (esp at 140 chars, less so now) encourages you to strip out all the little allowances that are actually crucial for good argument.