Ascription is an Anathema to any Enthusiasm

Another addition to my collection of examples were members of a group sport something that reveals what others might tend to think of as private information. In this forum the members decorate their postings with information about their credit scores. Not unlike the folks that do the same thing with their due date or their weight loss progress

Here are three examples (at reduced size) of their badges.

Some people show a chart of how each of the credit tracking firms is summarizing their credit.

Some of them are using this service that provides them with a score card.

Others are using the same progress bar scheme seen on weight loss and event (wedding, pregnancy, etc.) forums.

Why can’t I feed my real time IQ into my IM status; or what my current credit card debt is?

At the bank this morning they patiently explained their inability to do a particular thing what wanted doing because of “security.”  I had a flash back to an analogous experience at a bank in the early 1970s. Thought at that time the explanation was “our insurance company won’t let us do that.”  Both then and now I suspect the real reason was “our software sucks.”

Both excuses, insurance-company-rules and security-rules, resolve the question by introducing an immovable object into the discussion.  Using security is better than the insurance company because it implies that the immovable object serves our both the bank and my interests.

There is a whole craft of objection handling.