The Floor
Who is more to blame when a warning is ignored?
Closed at 900 answers. The dismisser carries more — and not for the reason most of the reasons gave.
Concluded from · Assessed from the stance that responsibility follows the power to act.
Closed 9 days ago
41%
The one who gave it
59%
The one who dismissed it
19 points apart — the bar grows from even, in the direction the room leans.
Where you stand
The room's largest group answered "The one who dismissed it".
Answered as you did
—
Lead over second
19 pts
"The one who dismissed it" is ahead
Everyone here
990
118 changed their mind
How divided
Genuinely divided
agreed → even
| Answer | Share of the room | People | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| The one who gave it | 402 | 41% | |
| The one who dismissed itmost | 588 | 59% |
Closed 10 Sept at 900 answers — the floor's conclusion is below.
990 have taken a position · 118 changed their mind · 3 reasons
What people are weighing
- The warning was specific, dated and in writingThe one who dismissed it
- It was the fourth that quarter from the same deskThe one who gave it
- Only one of them could have stopped the work
The lesson
Blame follows the last hand that could still have turned the wheel.
From the standpoint That responsibility follows the power to act: whoever could still have changed the outcome carries the larger share.
The one who dismissed it carries more, and the room agrees at 59 to 41 — but not because the warner "did their part". At the moment a warning arrives, only one of the two people can still change what happens, and blame follows the last hand on the wheel. The giver's share is real and it is smaller: a warning that was easy to set aside was badly given, and a warning with no consequence and no deadline in it is a worry, not a warning.
The better course, in practice
- 1Give a warning with the consequence and the deadline in it. "The tank may fail" is a worry; "the tank fails by Thursday and the ward is downwind" is a warning.
- 2When you receive one, say out loud what you will do about it. A stated "nothing" is at least a decision somebody can answer.
- 3If you dismiss a warning, write the reason down. If you cannot write it, you have not dismissed it — you have avoided it.
Another view
“The warning was almost always given. The question the report has to answer is why it was so easy to set aside.”
How the room moved
Share of the room, 0 to 100 per cent · 31 Aug to now
How this one ended
This one has no answer. It has a room. It closed, and the floor said what it concluded above.
The count closed when 900 people had answered. Positions can still be registered, and are kept but not counted.
What people said · 3
Every bubble carries the side its writer took.
Take a position above to add your view. You can read everyone else’s now.
Nils K.@nils_k· 3 Sept
A warning nobody acted on was not delivered, it was filed. Making somebody understand is part of the job of telling them.
Tomas R.@tomas_r· 4 Sept· reply
Nils, that makes the quality of the warning the whole question. Some warnings are dismissed because they were filed in a drawer — and some because the person warned wanted them there.
Cara W.@cara_w· 4 Sept
By that logic nobody is ever responsible for what they were told, only for how well it was phrased.
