Why do people say IMO after everything?

Not everything is opinion...

mitu123

That's just your opinion.

[QUOTE="Some-Mist"]

there's no reason to be ignorant and assume that everyone can distinguish between fact and opinion. you've got to keep in mind that this is a forum of varying intelligence, so you have to compensate for those who don't have that skill.

and regardless, I still fail to see how adding imo to the end of a statement would change a strong argument into a weak one. what does poor writing have to do with how strong or weak an argument is if the points are still valid?

edit: and I never stated that I care what trolls have to say, I said that it's an easy way to distinguish between a person who is trolling and a person who is not.

Slashkice

Everyone? I said most, and I see no reason not to assume as such considering the minimum age here is 13, old enough to know the difference between fact and opinion. Writing for the lowest common denominator is restrictive and pointless, if something needs to be explained further then it can be explained, no problem.

Like Yuri said, I was referring to weak arguments in general. Adding 'imo' to a strong argument is redundant, a personal annoyance, and a case of sloppy writing, but the argument would remain strong.

As for the last bit, yeah...no. More often than not it's trolls who toss around 'imo'. It's so when they get called out they can just fall back on the ol' "it's just my opinion man." Not the best way to call out trolls.

Sorry, I definitely misinterpreted your intial post.

I feel as if I should be agreeing with your post in regards to trolling, but the majority of the time (at least from what I noticed) the user claims their opinion as fact in order to provoke a certain response - or troll. IMO quake is a better developed game than call of duty - someone would reply, nice opinion you've got there or I don't agree with your opinion because .....yadda yadda (or along those lines). as opposed to someone posting, quake is a better developed game than call of duty, then those CoD fans who despise quake would be more likely to respond.

I'm not saying that all trolls claim their opinion as fact, or that trolls don't use the acronym "imo" but the majority of the time they're looking for replies and as others have stated, "imo" is the best way to avoid conflict when you're not trying to state something as factual.

and sure, many 13 year olds can definitely distinguish between fact and opinion but haven't you seen the show "are you smarter than a 5th grader"!? and once again, even tho most people can distinguish between fact and opinion, not everyone can. as I previously stated, no need to be ignorant.

If someone says "Halo: Reach is better than Killzone 2" It looks like they're presenting this as a fact but if I put "imo" after it, its my opinion so then no one can flame me.

Immortal--

Because a lot of people here slept through primary school and cant tell the difference between a fact and opinion, so we need to help them out by labeling whats a fact and whats a opinion.

Because a lot of people here slept through primary school and cant tell the difference between a fact and opinion, so we need to help them out by labeling whats a fact and whats a opinion.

toast_burner

according to Slashkice we shouldn't help them out at all since most people can tell the difference.