The publishing is for peer review. If you write your first PHP script with errors galore and nobody else ever sees it, you might be left thinking what you have done is perfect. Posting it invites people to show you your errors in thinking. By writing about how he interprets the law, he will receive feedback about the errors he has made, and can take steps to correct those errors.
The portrayal of truth goes back to the old joke:
If you ask "how do I do X in Linux?", you will not receive a
response. If you state "Linux sucks, it cannot do X",
you will be flooded with solutions to your problem.
If you make bold statements, people will be keen to correct you. That is how you learn.
This is such nonsense I can't tell if I'm being trolled or if you're serious. If everybody who wants to learn something needs to do so by writing egregiously bad article so that people who do know something about it can correct it, nobody who knows anything could get anything done because they'd have to correct all the 'learners'. Are you seriously suggesting that this guy's post will get criticism that will help him learn about law? Where is he going to get it - here on HN? Please. How many lawyers do you think there are that surf around the web correcting anonymous strangers' blog posts? How do you become a surgeon in your world? By cutting people open until they stop dieing?
If he's serious about learning, he should just go to law school like everybody else, not waste everybody's time with this nonsense.
- When someone writes a poor program, we celebrate their attempt. The fact that they tried at all puts them well above the efforts most people are willing to put in.
- When someone writes a poor article, we blast them for not having everything just perfect. Only those with decades of industry experience are worthy of writing that perfect article.
This makes absolutely no sense. What is wrong with someone writing an article that is full of flaws, like someone who writes a program that is full of flaws? It is a personal blog, not a prestigious legal journal. Who cares if he made some errors?
I don't think this person is going to be gunning to pass the bar exam any time soon. Learning about the legal system is a valid hobby like any other. The learning process requires many mistakes in the beginning. You do not have to be perfect in your understanding from day one.
You are entitled to your opinion, but I, for one, hope we see more people learning about the legal system as a hobby. It can only yield positive results.
"When someone writes a poor program, we celebrate their attempt."
No, we don't, at least not when they present their result as 'fact', for asfar as the analogy is holding up.
"When someone writes a poor article, we blast them for not having everything just perfect."
I'm not doing any such thing. "not having everything just perfect" is skipping over a counterargument, or interpreting an opinion wrong without that having material effect, or something like that. This article is complete and utter bullshit, yet is presented as 'fact' or at least as a 'respectable opinion'. I could write something of the same level about oncology (of which I know absolutely nothing) with an afternoon time and a computer with access to Wikipedia.
"Who cares if he made some errors?"
Not me, as long as everybody knows about it. However the fact that its getting upvoted here, and the fact that most people hear only what they want to hear when it comes to this whole SOPA circus, is a strong indicator that people are really believing his nonsense. This echo chamber is horrible to watch, and you're right I really don't give a flying fuck, if it weren't for the fact that people form opinions based on stuff like this. Look at it this way: why would you care that Fox 'News' reports on a completely distorted view of reality? Are you saying that that's not damaging either?
The portrayal of truth goes back to the old joke:
If you make bold statements, people will be keen to correct you. That is how you learn.