Ask E.T.

While on the web looking for something else (of course), I discovered this “Ask E.T.” page where graphics expert Ed Tufte answers questions dealing with information design. Lots of interesting comments on these threads by Howard Wainer and others.

The only thing I find mysterious is some of the threads are labeled with three asterisks. And near the top of the page, we see this:

***  =  3-star threads

Yeah, sure, but what does that mean? Funny to see this kind of content-less note on a Tufte site, of all places.

4 thoughts on “Ask E.T.

  1. I'm a long-time contributor to the ET board. The three asterisks are to distinguish "Three-star" threads: that is, threads of especial analytical depth or interest. There was an explanation on the board but I can't locate it this morning.

  2. It is, of course, a little joke, a parody of over-explanatory technical manuals. In practice, it has also turned out to be a uniquely effective way to identify the naively earnest.

    The site does, in addition, contain items of interest to those interested in statistical evidence: see for example the threads on sparklines, economisting, evidence corruption, and the quantitative evidence involved in making decisions on shuttle Columbia while it was damaged but still orbiting. ET

  3. It's pretty obvious: a thread with '***' has one more '*' than the '**' threads, and TWO more '*' than the '*' threads.

    Further details left as an exercise for the reader.

Comments are closed.