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As soon as I see people dropping GIFs and image macros into intelligent discussions like this, I can't help but immediately become sceptical of what they're say

As soon as I see people dropping GIFs and image macros into intelligent discussions like this, I can't help but immediately become sceptical of what they're saying. It happens a lot in fairly serious technical computing blog posts and I've been trying to wrap my head around why people do it.

ColinWright 10y ago
Many times now when people have looked at my carefully written, carefully reasoned, well-laid out writings, have gone: Aaarrrggghhhh !!! WALL OF TEXT !!! Aaarrrggghhhh !!! It seems that many people need humorous (for some definition of "humorous") images and animations to make them think tat what they are reading is entertainment. I hate it, but it is an increasing trend, and I'm not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.
- 91823791 10y ago
  I am surprised, because this presentation style used to be restricted to children's books. I was unable to finish this article because I refuse to have Riemann mixed up with memegenerator.net.
  - nommm-nommm 10y ago
    Unable is not the same as unwilling.
    - ars 10y ago
      I had a hard time as well - the moving image was very distracting, I had to cover it to try to concentrate on what the text was saying.
      - nommm-nommm 10y ago
        That is not what the comment I was replying to said. There was a "refusal" to mix academic content with Internet memes.
- edejong 10y ago
  Now substitute blog post with children book. It's unfortunate that text length, imagery and animation have all descended to the level of fairy tale writings.
JD557 10y ago
I believe it's mostly use to avoid having huge blobs of text and force the readers to have a pause to reflect about the text instead of leaving the page. Nevertheless, I feel the same way. I wish people would use simple diagrams relevant to the discussion (like the 1/2 + 1/4 + ... = 1) instead of overused macro images.
tamana 10y ago
It's the author showing personality, free from the strict form rules of journals.

ColinWright 10y ago

Many times now when people have looked at my carefully written, carefully reasoned, well-laid out writings, have gone: Aaarrrggghhhh !!! WALL OF TEXT !!! Aaarrrggghhhh !!! It seems that many people need humorous (for some definition of "humorous") images and animations to make them think tat what they are reading is entertainment. I hate it, but it is an increasing trend, and I'm not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.

91823791 10y ago
I am surprised, because this presentation style used to be restricted to children's books. I was unable to finish this article because I refuse to have Riemann mixed up with memegenerator.net.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  Unable is not the same as unwilling.
  - ars 10y ago
    I had a hard time as well - the moving image was very distracting, I had to cover it to try to concentrate on what the text was saying.
    - nommm-nommm 10y ago
      That is not what the comment I was replying to said. There was a "refusal" to mix academic content with Internet memes.
edejong 10y ago
Now substitute blog post with children book. It's unfortunate that text length, imagery and animation have all descended to the level of fairy tale writings.

JD557 10y ago

I believe it's mostly use to avoid having huge blobs of text and force the readers to have a pause to reflect about the text instead of leaving the page. Nevertheless, I feel the same way. I wish people would use simple diagrams relevant to the discussion (like the 1/2 + 1/4 + ... = 1) instead of overused macro images.

tamana 10y ago

It's the author showing personality, free from the strict form rules of journals.