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> There's an honored place for the playfully obscure too. I get enough of this from work, thanks. There's a fine line between decoding twee whimsy and billable

> There's an honored place for the playfully obscure too. I get enough of this from work, thanks. There's a fine line between decoding twee whimsy and billable hours that most of these submissions stomp past obliviously. The first rule of writing is: respect your reader's time (or else they won't read you). I'm all for not taking things to seriously, but if I have to spend 5 minutes to work out if this is an entertaining flight of fancy that I might just learn something from, or an untargeted waste of marketing budget, then I'm going to Have Opinions that I want to Share Online.

tptacek 9y ago
Also, fuck poetry.
- falsedan 9y ago
  no
dang 9y ago
The underlying expectation here seems to be that HN readers shouldn't have to work a little. But HN thrives when readers do occasionally have to work a little. So we welcome that. Sorry!
- falsedan 9y ago
  > The underlying expectation here seems to be that HN readers shouldn't have to work a little That's not my point at all: I work in software, so I love to stare at some cryptic message and mutter and make notes. But when I uncover the answer is "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine", then I'll feel ripped off. I keep seeing product announcements using this technique of dressing it up in twisty little language, as if they're afraid that what they're saying isn't interesting enough to stand on its own. They slap on the appearance of entertainment, without considering how well it fits with their message (prioritising form over function). why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby is a fantastic example of how to do it right: the whimsy doesn't detract from the message, but helps frame it and gives the right context for the reader to build the mental model of programming that _why intended to convey.
  - dang 9y ago
    Ok, I get your point now. But did I miss it or did you really not say this earlier? We probably assigned this post to different buckets but I agree with you that both buckets exist.
    - falsedan 9y ago
      I said: > if I have to spend 5 minutes to work out if this is […] an untargeted waste of marketing budget, then I'm going to [write a comment about how I wish people would stop doing it]* I'll try being clear next time.

tptacek 9y ago

Also, fuck poetry.

falsedan 9y ago
no

dang 9y ago

The underlying expectation here seems to be that HN readers shouldn't have to work a little. But HN thrives when readers do occasionally have to work a little. So we welcome that. Sorry!

falsedan 9y ago
> The underlying expectation here seems to be that HN readers shouldn't have to work a little That's not my point at all: I work in software, so I love to stare at some cryptic message and mutter and make notes. But when I uncover the answer is "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine", then I'll feel ripped off. I keep seeing product announcements using this technique of dressing it up in twisty little language, as if they're afraid that what they're saying isn't interesting enough to stand on its own. They slap on the appearance of entertainment, without considering how well it fits with their message (prioritising form over function). why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby is a fantastic example of how to do it right: the whimsy doesn't detract from the message, but helps frame it and gives the right context for the reader to build the mental model of programming that _why intended to convey.
- dang 9y ago
  Ok, I get your point now. But did I miss it or did you really not say this earlier? We probably assigned this post to different buckets but I agree with you that both buckets exist.
  - falsedan 9y ago
    I said: > if I have to spend 5 minutes to work out if this is […] an untargeted waste of marketing budget, then I'm going to [write a comment about how I wish people would stop doing it]* I'll try being clear next time.