What about learning these phrases instead:
- I believe
- I seem to recall
- As I understand it
- It seems to me that
- In my experience
In other words, make it clear to the reader what your level of skill or knowledge is.
Whilst chewing on that, consider adding a source if you have one (or six).
Source: I’ve been here a while and it’s stood me in good stead during online (and offline) conversation over the decades.
Me: My understanding is [nuanced take on subject I do know about] but that’s just what I read in [multiple good sources]
If you’re actually informed, couching your opinion like this dulls its impact for no good reason. It’s good to speak/write confidently when you have cause to be confident.
Hedging is great for situations where you aren’t confident, but should otherwise be used sparingly.
Thanks, it’s my understanding, that it’s quite likely that I’ll probably keep posting this way due to the whole bundle of neuroses, anxiety and imposter syndrome that makes up my psyche. But that’s just what I’ve heard.
Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.
But then how am I supposed to get angry and ridicule random people on the internet?
Oh there’s plenty of room for someone who is informed to get angry and rightly ridicule people who deserve it.
The key to talking about things you don’t know about is to be loud, aggressive, and ridiculously confident in your beliefs. Project competency though you have none.
One time in English class we had a series of debates as one of our assignments. I completely winged it and got a B+ just for sounding authoritative.
And I’m happy she won
