"
proving you were giving false information"
... you make it sound like he's purposefully deceptive and you're the police. instead of "
trying to prove"
he's "
giving false information"
, and instead of simply modding down "
false"
posts, why not try replacing "
proving"
with "
pointing out"
and replacing "
false"
with "
mistaken."
Perhaps "
pointing out you were giving mistaken information"
reads like a synonym to you, but it has a much less inflammatory connotation. It doesn't sound so much like you think Sillyman is liar trying to waste people's time.
Obviously, if you read somewhere, or know from experience, that Sillyman's answer is wrong, but don't know the real answer, you can still be helpful by pointing out Sillyman's mistake (so other people know to treat it with a grain of salt and not as the final answer), but you don't need to be hostile or accusatory, thusly:
"
I think that answer is mistaken, because I (read something else/tried that it didn't work). I'm not sure of the actual answer, so probably someone more knowledgeable can step in here."
It's really quick and painless to type, and doesn't sound like part of a cross-thread flame war against Sillyman.
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[Last edited by silver at 09-24-2008 03:57 PM]
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