• @pantyhosewimp
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    82 days ago

    I’m not debating. It is not a matter of opinion. I’m doing you the courtesy of informing you how the entire rest of the world uses the term.

    If action A looks for thing X, and it finds thing X, then the test is positive. If action A fails to find thing X, then the test is negative.

    If action A claims to find thing X, but later confirmation determines that thing X is not really there, then this situation is called “false positive”.

    If action A claims fails to find thing X, but later confirmation determines that thing X is actually there, then this situation is called “false negative”.

    That thing X may subjectively be considered an unwanted outcome has **nothing ** to do with the terms used.