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RE: Argument, Debate, Discussion, and some things that don't work...

As for me, I cannot stand absolutes, but I found more often than not that, if I don't use absolutes (eg. I use "I'm confident that this will work" instead of just saying "Oh yeah, this is fixed for sure") many people don't give you a chance.

I tend to use the Red Herring tactic myself in some way, but it's mainly because, as a software engineer I see all too often the bug is related so some outlying scenario or combination of odd events. This is also a major point to the use of absolutes b/c clients want you to say "100 % fixed" even though there could be something else that causes issues as well.

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clients want you to say "100 % fixed" even

Yeah in IT, and networking I say it "Should be fixed". I refuse to use absolutes as good ol' Murphy's Law likes to play with us. Also the people we deal with are not technical enough to know if a new problem came up and even if the old problem is fixed all they care about is whether it is working or not.

As to software I tend to say "that bug is fixed", but I make it clear until it goes through testing that I cannot guarantee another bug was not created somewhere, though whether I say that or not really depends upon the complexity of the software. If it isn't too complex I just say "it's fixed".

I really try to avoid absolutes as they can be almost like a tech person's superstition and ATTRACT unwanted problems.

The famous thing of never bragging about how secure your site is. :)

Yep, that sounds alot like what I do.