"my position" vs. "the truth"

From the permies.com publishing standards

Something that I have said several dozen times in the past which appears to not be covered here is: I prefer to see posts that offer "my position" rather than "the truth". I've deleted a lot of stuff with "the truth". The reason is that if somebody posts "the truth" and a second somebody has an alternative position, then posting the alternative feels a lot like entering into conflict - so it is less likely to get posted. And it is that alternative that I want to see shared on this site.

Plus, if a person posts "the truth" rather than their position, then it seems to be flame war bait.  This site is not a site for flame wars or debates - it is for sharing information.

We have decided to follow a certain path for the type of communication we want there.  In the beginning we thought there would be very few people - but it seems that a LOT of people are drawn to this style.  Granted, this style is not for everybody.   But it for the people that are part of our community.   For those that don't care for it, I think the rest of the internet is available to you.

I can't remember which thread it was, but I recently saw a few posts that seemed to boil down to "one has to mince words when talking about the truth on this forum". Mind you, it didn't come across as being quite so negative as my paraphrase from what I can remember. It got me thinking though that there are very few "truths", there's just things we think are true based on our current understanding. When we learn more, our idea of the truth changes. "The truth" 500 years ago would be different from "the truth" after microscopes were invented which would be different from "the truth" since electron microscopes were invented. If there's a scientific study done, all they can say is the results of that study. We operate on our best interpretation of the data, but our interpretation may be wrong and/or the data incomplete.

That's as true as the fact that the sky is blue (except when it's black...or gray...or pink, purple, orange...or that gray/yellow/green color it sometimes is before/during a storm......)

The trueth is earth and water together will make mud.
Unless the earth is fired clay and the water is ice....
I guess "it depends"?

I have seen some folks here go full on porcupine evangelist and insist that the solution to  any challenge is "Prick Them With Quills!"
It's notable because it is rare as hens teeth,and usually appears in a closed thread...

 

We are wily monkeys and in this the truth can be complicated.

Truth is merely an answer and answers often are arrived at perspective (ego) and how one got to their answer or equation.

As in math, their are many ways to obtain an answer to an equation.  As such I often see this type of confusion regarding "truth for all" can happen.  It is also likely both positions or multiple positions were and are correct for their perspective scenario and situation and thus in reality it was only a "truth" for that type of problem with those type of factors that the problem existed in.  No one shoe fits all kind of thing.

I hop that makes sense.  

from https://permies.com/t/40/6155/citation-needed#1931174

This is very confusing. This seems to be saying that a person can make up any story they want and share it as an anecdote and it cannot be questioned.  And since it cannot be questioned, it must implicitly be accepted as though it were a type of “truth“.  At the same time, you’re saying that it’s forbidden to state that something is “the truth”.  
This seems like a contradiction; how can you have it both ways?  

It seems like it is on the one hand defending  a person in speaking “their truth”, while at the same time saying it is forbidden for a person to speak “their truth”.

A person can say "this one time i ..." or "i think ..." or "I once read".   Maybe it is made up, but I suspect it is not.  As far as it being questioned, I think there are ways to ask questions respectfully and there are ways to ask questions that do not meet our publishing standards.

If a person starts a statement with "I think ..." then whatever follows that is true.  The truth.  A perfectly qualified statement that meets our publishing standards.

On the other hand, if a person says the same thing, but leaves out "I think" then that probably violates our publishing standards.

I don't see a contradiction.  Instead, it seems very clear to me.  

I personally believe there is "the truth".  I also strongly believe that it is very hard to know what the truth is.  Many times in my life I thought I knew something as an absolute fact, only to later find out there was a lot to it I didn't understand or I was just wrong.  The older I get, the less things are black and white to me and the more things are shades of gray.  Any time I think I'm sure I'm right, and the other person is wrong, I try to think back to all the times I thought that before.  It doesn't always work, but it works more often than not.

and another bump I think....