unwarranted confidence: classic or dud?

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Poll Closing Date: Friday, 26 December 2025 00:00 (in 4 days)

inspired by the serena williams landing a plane thread

that little spike in testosterone or whatever it is - does the charm outweigh the dumb?

classic
dud


map, Monday, 1 December 2025 21:54 (two weeks ago)

Leeroy Jenkins to thread

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 1 December 2025 21:57 (two weeks ago)

when it accompanies someone saying "hey, check this out!" and attempting some dumb feat that just occurred to them, usually to fail dramatically: classic

when it's someone who thinks they understand the mysteries of the universe because someone paid them to do something (see: nearly every LinkedIn post): dud

mh, Monday, 1 December 2025 21:57 (two weeks ago)

confident people are generally dud, in fact confidence is almost always unwarranted.

giving you schtick (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 1 December 2025 21:59 (two weeks ago)

Dud but it also led me to many amazing experiences in music, when I was running on sheer willpower and enthusiasm instead of skills. I think this is the power of youth, you just want it so badly and it's probably better than not putting yourself out there. And learning through semi-embarrassing experiences is a time-honored pathway (maybe not recommended for doctors, pilots, etc).

Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 1 December 2025 22:04 (two weeks ago)

in fact confidence is almost always unwarranted

what about that dude that climbed Half Dome without a rope? I don't know if it was a good idea, but certainly would require a certain level of confidence

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 1 December 2025 22:13 (two weeks ago)

(or El Capitan or whatever it was)

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 1 December 2025 22:14 (two weeks ago)

Dud in theory, classic in practice

As per CaAL, since all confidence is unwarranted, you have to eventually be the dud if you want to get anything done.

H.P, Monday, 1 December 2025 22:17 (two weeks ago)

we're figuring out quickly which posters are from countries that have tall poppy syndrome

mh, Monday, 1 December 2025 22:26 (two weeks ago)

it’s funny when ppl fa&fo

brimstead, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 00:32 (two weeks ago)

confident people are generally dud, in fact confidence is almost always unwarranted.

― giving you schtick (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, December 1, 2025 3:59 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i want to say that i disagree with you, but i'm second guessing myself

budo jeru, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 00:54 (two weeks ago)

I'm assuming CaaL is very carefully using the toilet every time

mh, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 01:22 (two weeks ago)

resentment of this to a high degree- we might call some of the statements made about it upthread very.... confident.....in their projections- is a tell

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:03 (two weeks ago)

I will never know what this feels like because I feel unconfident even when doing things I've mastered, but I feel like I've saved myself from many horrible moments of trying things I was ill-equipped to try.

the only time I remember having a moment like that, I was at basketball camp and about to shoot a three and I said "this is my best shot!" and air-balled it, while a kid next to me said "I would hate to see what your worst shot is"

Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:11 (two weeks ago)

also in kindergarten on the first day of school, I got in an argument with a first grader and told him I was going to use the karate I'd used from the show Sidekicks to take him out, then he hit me in the stomach and I went down.

this is why I don't have confidence.

Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:13 (two weeks ago)

ernie reyes jr got a lot to answer for

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:14 (two weeks ago)

i think the last time i was in a fistfight was in a chipper after having seen the matrix

and i was sober

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:14 (two weeks ago)

was it against a guy in a black suit and sunglasses?

Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:15 (two weeks ago)

resentment of this to a high degree- we might call some of the statements made about it upthread very.... confident.....in their projections- is a tell


“This” = arrogance (as per thread topic), or any level of confidence (as per where the thread went)?

Cause the former is pretty universally seen as negative although I agree with mh that overapplication/projection of it can be a symptom of a stifling cultural tendency (cf “pretentious”)

🤷‍♂️ Cunt Tory Cheese (wins), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:18 (two weeks ago)

i think the last time i was in a fistfight was in a chipper after having seen the matrix

so, in 1999?

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:37 (two weeks ago)

Nah this was last Friday

🤷‍♂️ Cunt Tory Cheese (wins), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:38 (two weeks ago)

confidence, whether warranted or not, should only be an internal state. externalizing it rapidly becomes bragging.

voted dud, because unwarranted confidence often leads to screw ups that can easily have negative repercussions for other people.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:42 (two weeks ago)

i think the other thing is that many things we've mastered tend to become invisible to us. we become self-conscious about the things we're actively working on, without realizing that things we do unthinkingly might seem amazing to an onlooker. just a thought for those here who proclaim to have "zero confidence"

budo jeru, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 18:51 (two weeks ago)

otm

mh, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:13 (two weeks ago)

"This” = arrogance (as per thread topic), or any level of confidence (as per where the thread went)?

Nah, he's talking about the toilet.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:15 (two weeks ago)

Again? Lad’s obsessed

🤷‍♂️ Cunt Tory Cheese (wins), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:16 (two weeks ago)

mastery isn't something you achieve, it's similar to perfection. it's always a level above where you are

i'm a girl whose central trauma has caused her to believe that the rules about literally anything could change overnight, so for decades i had zero confidence, warranted or otherwise, wouldn't even believe people when they told me i was good at something. now there are some things about which i'm confident to an unwarranted degree just through age, experience, learning to trust myself, replacing almost all of the testosterone in my body with estrogen, etc. (i'm the best performer at karaoke, i'm the best dancer in the club, sometimes i can be a very good writer, etc.)

i hate unwarranted confidence in men, admire it in women while hoping it'll turn into warranted confidence

ivy., Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:24 (two weeks ago)

imo the best confidence is that which allows you to be confident you'll be able to make a reasonable attempt, with the recognition that you might not get the desired outcome every time

mh, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:33 (two weeks ago)

yes I like that

easy confidence is best

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:39 (two weeks ago)

was it against a guy in a black suit and sunglasses?

― Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), 02 December 2025 18:15 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

squire it was against a heavyset but giant young lad i was, let's be clear, unwarrantedly confident

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:40 (two weeks ago)

“This” = arrogance (as per thread topic), or any level of confidence (as per where the thread went)?

yeah tbf more where the thread went

im not sure id equate arrogance and unwarranted confidence tho tbh?

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:41 (two weeks ago)

guess you've got to frame the unwarranted confidence in a narrative to get away with it, a lot of people are very good at that and you have to give them credit for it.

LocalGarda, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:43 (two weeks ago)

i think a lot of people go through life without worrying whether they are being overconfident or not and probably benefit from that as a whole and i think there's a lot of people who wish they had that and they hates it yes they does they hates it and they have to tell themselves stories about how horrible the former are and how unfair it is.

idk tho maybe not

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:45 (two weeks ago)

Well the thread spun off from the one about ppl thinking they could totally land a plane! I think that prob counts as arrogance (or just foolishness tbf)

Would def push back against things like even warranted confidence should never be externalised — I would like my skydiving instructor to have a (warranted!) assured mien, thanks — and again I do think there’s an unhealthy who-do-they-think-they-are cultural aspect

🤷‍♂️ Cunt Tory Cheese (wins), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:58 (two weeks ago)

Speaking, as you all must know, as someone very much on the not confident side of this

🤷‍♂️ Cunt Tory Cheese (wins), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 19:59 (two weeks ago)

yes some warrants i very much would like to see displayed outside the door of the office that is very true

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:41 (two weeks ago)

I wish more people had win’s intelligence and lack of confidence instead of the inverse

colonic interrogation (gyac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:48 (two weeks ago)

phone accurately recognised that wins’s isn’t a word

colonic interrogation (gyac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:48 (two weeks ago)

he's a good un

Wichita Referee's Assistant (darraghmac), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 20:55 (two weeks ago)

actually at work I'm incredibly confident to the point where people flag me down for help on everything, but I've also been here forever

Edward Albee Sure (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:02 (two weeks ago)

Voted dud. Unwarranted confidence = “let's just do it and be legends, man” nonsense

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:47 (two weeks ago)

See also "fake it till you make it".

Bob Six, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 21:56 (two weeks ago)

I worked in a summer school in the late 2000s and most of the other people working there were students who had been to a few expensive private schools in the area. They were all weirdly confident, to the extent that they seemed unable to empathise with anyone who lacked confidence. I remember one girl talking about an acquaintance she didn't like and everything she described was just obviously shyness and anxiety, but she interpreted this as deliberately being difficult because that was just not something she'd ever had to deal with.

giving you schtick (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 December 2025 22:05 (two weeks ago)

that girl? now a ceo at a Fortune 500 company

mh, Tuesday, 2 December 2025 23:00 (two weeks ago)


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