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Not literally. It's a cultural reference. Enough so that there's ascii art for it. The point is that "bear it until you just have to leave" is... short sighted and immature. Adults talk things through before they become unbearable or crises, if at all possible.

Great. Good for you.

And, in my own observation, there's a persistent idea that folks need to "deserve" help to get it, and goodness help us if anyone who doesn't "deserve" it gets a red cent. That's why I put up that bit about the Foglios. They don't need justification to ask, but I could perhaps forestall...

The Foglios once donated a handsome prize to a charity auction my wife was running at a local sci-fi convention. They helped us raise thousands of dollars for breast cancer research, probably the most successful charity event in the history of that convention. So, yeah, they get to ask for help.

What's the old saying? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone? And, what's the other, newer, saying? Don't make it personal? This line of discussion starts to read like, "I can dodge/dismiss your points, because you are so strident," which isn't appropriate.

So, as written, this can seem like, "Grin and bear it until it is too much, and then throw a hissy-fit, flip the table and walk out." Before, "you just leave," there really ought to be some, "attempt to talk through the issues like mature adults," that isn't mentioned here. Unless you're...

Everyone is strident now and again.

This, in a nutshell. It is very crummy to ask for help under false pretenses, of course. But, if you need it, there shouldn't be a problem with asking for, or giving, help.

I am speaking it aloud before any play begins, but then probably not in the moment. For example, I generally reserve the right to occasionally fudge dice rolls. I do not generally announce when I am doing so in play. Occasionally, but most often not. They allow me my judgement. I have...

The word "appropriate" did some lifting in my statement. For example, there are social sciences that are not appropriate for use as the basis for generalizations to be applied to current, living people, or used as the basis for current social policy, and the like.

For example, by setting expectations in something like a Session Zero. For every campaign, even with my regular group who have been playing with me variously for a decade or two, I first poll the players for their preferences, and then inform them of what deviations from strict adherence to...

And the player would have continued to argue. Because - and let us remember the real point - players don't always take the GM's word as gospel. While they might usually do so, it cannot be assumed, and our thoughts on GMing and games need to include the less-than-optimal situations.

Enlightenment. Yep. Go to University. Get a doctorate in an appropriate social science.

With respect, social science folks are very clever, and can extract data from what looks like anecdotes. But, also, yes - social sciences in the past have gotten it very wrong, to the harm of peoples in the past. So, being aware of the limitations of your information, and how far you should...

Sometimes. But, in this case, the player was trying to use their own knowledge to get information their character shouldn't have had. And in other times... ...look, I'm a physicist. You ask me how things really work, and it will kill your scifi game faster than you can say "Schwartzchild...

Garbage in, garbage out. If all you have to work with is bad, then you admit you don't have the information you need, rather than come to erroneous conclusions. Folks are way, waaay, too reluctant to say, "I don't know." But saying that is fundamental to actual progress.

You can't assume, that, though. You might be playing in the setting of Larry Niven's The Integral Trees, in which folks aren't living on a planetary surface at all. There can be Type-1 facts, but you have to elucidate which ones they are.

Oh, no they aint! Look, there's a whole lot that a credible researcher does to support the integrity of data that regular people just don't do with anecdotes. Like, record them individually and separately, with accompanying metadata.

Excellent. I want to be a prophet about as much as Kirk wanted to be an Admiral.