3 ms·

> "What is Pandas" is assumed to be known, for good reason What good reason? Why on earth would every single person on HN who happened to click on that link kn

> "What is Pandas" is assumed to be known, for good reason What good reason? Why on earth would every single person on HN who happened to click on that link know what `pandas` is? How would they even know whose blog it is on? Unless your blog is specifically, only for people who are already familiar with your `thing` (in which case, a mailing list might be better), then it simply makes sense to always have a header with a tagline explaining what your `thing` is and a link back to the main project website. Just in case it gets featured on HN or something.

TheCowboy 9y ago
Usually I ignore comments like this, but the author of the post is actually coming through and responding to comments, and I appreciate that. You're leveling the criticism that since his blog deals with a niche that he should drop to a mailing list. Seriously? HN has been developing a bad reputation, and nitpicky comments presented without decorum create an incentive for people to stay away. It's perfectly reasonably for the author of a blog post to assume that people familiar with his blog, his usual readers, will know what's up. It's not too unreasonable to suggest that the author provide a summary if it's not clear what the piece or blog is about, except in this case it is described on the blog's About page on the list of open source projects. Redefining all of these things in every post would get annoying very fast. It's reasonable to say that people working with statistical and data computing are likely as aware of Pandas as a web developer is aware of several of the largest JavaScript libraries.
- phaemon 9y ago
  > You're leveling the criticism No, I'm not. I'm offering a suggestion. You're being absurdly thin-skinned on someone else's behalf. > Redefining all of these things in every post would get annoying very fast. So put it in a header so it automatically appears at the top of every post. As I suggested originally. This is simply good practise for any project where you want to attract people who haven't heard of your software before. If you don't care about these people, then a mailing list is a better idea so you can hide it away from everyone. Again, just a suggestion...
  - Blackthorn 9y ago
    Maybe he doesn't need to attract people who haven't heard of his software before because his software is literally the default for data science. It's like complaining that someone didn't define what jQuery is. > No, I'm not. I'm offering a suggestion. You're being absurdly thin-skinned on someone else's behalf No, we're being annoyed at the crazy level of bike shedding that hacker news is starting to see.
Blackthorn 9y ago
> Why on earth would every single person on HN who happened to click on that link know what `pandas` is? How would they even know whose blog it is on? It's the author of Pandas's blog. He didn't submit it to HN, someone else did. It's totally reasonable to expect that if people are reading his, the author of Pandas, blog, then they already know what Pandas is.
- phaemon 9y ago
  > He didn't submit it to HN, someone else did. What difference does that make? It's still here, right? So people are still reading it from here, right? >It's totally reasonable to expect that if people are reading his, the author of Pandas, blog, then they already know what Pandas No, not when it's linked from elsewhere. Which is what happens with blogs. Like it was right now.
- wpietri 9y ago
  Sorry, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect that. It's the web. People link to things. Which is why I think it's reasonable to add a link somewhere in the first paragraph to context.

TheCowboy 9y ago

Usually I ignore comments like this, but the author of the post is actually coming through and responding to comments, and I appreciate that. You're leveling the criticism that since his blog deals with a niche that he should drop to a mailing list. Seriously? HN has been developing a bad reputation, and nitpicky comments presented without decorum create an incentive for people to stay away. It's perfectly reasonably for the author of a blog post to assume that people familiar with his blog, his usual readers, will know what's up. It's not too unreasonable to suggest that the author provide a summary if it's not clear what the piece or blog is about, except in this case it is described on the blog's About page on the list of open source projects. Redefining all of these things in every post would get annoying very fast. It's reasonable to say that people working with statistical and data computing are likely as aware of Pandas as a web developer is aware of several of the largest JavaScript libraries.

phaemon 9y ago
> You're leveling the criticism No, I'm not. I'm offering a suggestion. You're being absurdly thin-skinned on someone else's behalf. > Redefining all of these things in every post would get annoying very fast. So put it in a header so it automatically appears at the top of every post. As I suggested originally. This is simply good practise for any project where you want to attract people who haven't heard of your software before. If you don't care about these people, then a mailing list is a better idea so you can hide it away from everyone. Again, just a suggestion...
- Blackthorn 9y ago
  Maybe he doesn't need to attract people who haven't heard of his software before because his software is literally the default for data science. It's like complaining that someone didn't define what jQuery is. > No, I'm not. I'm offering a suggestion. You're being absurdly thin-skinned on someone else's behalf No, we're being annoyed at the crazy level of bike shedding that hacker news is starting to see.

Blackthorn 9y ago

> Why on earth would every single person on HN who happened to click on that link know what `pandas` is? How would they even know whose blog it is on? It's the author of Pandas's blog. He didn't submit it to HN, someone else did. It's totally reasonable to expect that if people are reading his, the author of Pandas, blog, then they already know what Pandas is.

phaemon 9y ago
> He didn't submit it to HN, someone else did. What difference does that make? It's still here, right? So people are still reading it from here, right? >It's totally reasonable to expect that if people are reading his, the author of Pandas, blog, then they already know what Pandas No, not when it's linked from elsewhere. Which is what happens with blogs. Like it was right now.
wpietri 9y ago
Sorry, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect that. It's the web. People link to things. Which is why I think it's reasonable to add a link somewhere in the first paragraph to context.