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Inflation in Venezuela is over 25k%. People are jailed during demonstrations when they are not shot in cold blood. Children are dying of malnutrition. But for e

Inflation in Venezuela is over 25k%. People are jailed during demonstrations when they are not shot in cold blood. Children are dying of malnutrition. But for everyone on HN the biggest problem is the article format. Utterly and completely unbelievable...

throwaway413 8y ago
Thank you.
ademup 8y ago
A large number of people (most?) in the HN community are contributors/authors/creators to web sites such as that linked. I love HN people for their ability to respect content while simultaneously addressing how it is delivered. I believe that ~how~ the message is conveyed is extremely important. If the UI is such that people click 'next' and never get to the content, then all of the breathless exasperation in the world will be directed at the uniformed.
- candiodari 8y ago
  Exactly. The point is to attract attention, and to keep it as long as possible. The starving and exploited Venezuelans are just a tool for that, and in a way just being exploited just that little bit more by these sites, for their own gain. The discussion here is about the exploitation, not so much about the source of the initial spec of attention to be exploited. Besides just wait until someone points out which type of politics were at the source of this change. The same is true of this comment.
russdpale 8y ago
Well I mean honestly I couldn't even watch it. It kept repeating and freezing. Classic case of pushing a browser where it shouldn't go. I don't even see an option for text only.
turc1656 8y ago
First world problems, indeed. That being said, I can't criticize anyone who commented on the article format or method of delivery because as soon as I saw it, I immediately shut the page.
karlmcguire 8y ago
I agree that the situation in Venezuela is dire. I would expect an article about the situation would respect that, and rather than presenting it as some cinematic experience it would present the facts in an easily consumed format. This "article" doesn't do that.
csomar 8y ago
The format is as important. You can only learn about the Venezuela issue if information is transmitted and processed to your brain. The format can affect that in a big way.
sodafountan 8y ago
Couldn't agree more, the article is meant for accessibility, not everyone wants to read a multi-thousand word article and then analyze specific points. The point is Venezuelans are suffering terribly under a socialist dictatorship.
- throwaway413 8y ago
  I wonder if any of the people complaining watch movies, or exclusively just read books. It’s like multiple media formats can’t exist to convey different experiences.
Fnoord 8y ago
Your valuable contribution is also exactly zero. You're the pot calling the kettle black.
ken 8y ago
You typed 24 words of plain text and painted a picture of the situation in Venezuela -- how hard was that? We're not talking about the font-family being unfashionable. This NYTimes page simply doesn't work (i.e., let me view its content) for me here on the latest version of a major web browser. This is a big, mature organization whose purpose is telling stories about the world, and it's failing at that. By attempting to publish using cool web technologies that don't always work (apparently), they made the story about their medium, not their message. In the Scott McCloud system, they chose to emphasize step 6 (Surface) rather than step 5 (Craft). That's a perfectly valid artistic choice to make but they can't complain when people focus on that.
RobertRoberts 8y ago
>Utterly and completely unbelievable... I think we all understand that it's terrible down there, but there are many, many places in the world where there is tragedy. And in my own experience, there is, and always has been, tragedies consistently happening in my own local area. Discussing a tertiary topic does not diminish the the value of the main topic. And food for thought, maybe if that site hadn't made such a poor technical and artistic/design choices, they would have made more of a difference, and caused more people to get the information correctly. (and certainly would less likely to have detracted the discussions from the main point)
monkeynotes 8y ago
What, if anything, constructive could you add to help with the problem? Indignation at assumed apathy is something you may experience but if you are truly concerned please help us help.

throwaway413 8y ago

Thank you.

ademup 8y ago

A large number of people (most?) in the HN community are contributors/authors/creators to web sites such as that linked. I love HN people for their ability to respect content while simultaneously addressing how it is delivered. I believe that ~how~ the message is conveyed is extremely important. If the UI is such that people click 'next' and never get to the content, then all of the breathless exasperation in the world will be directed at the uniformed.

candiodari 8y ago
Exactly. The point is to attract attention, and to keep it as long as possible. The starving and exploited Venezuelans are just a tool for that, and in a way just being exploited just that little bit more by these sites, for their own gain. The discussion here is about the exploitation, not so much about the source of the initial spec of attention to be exploited. Besides just wait until someone points out which type of politics were at the source of this change. The same is true of this comment.

russdpale 8y ago

Well I mean honestly I couldn't even watch it. It kept repeating and freezing. Classic case of pushing a browser where it shouldn't go. I don't even see an option for text only.

turc1656 8y ago

First world problems, indeed. That being said, I can't criticize anyone who commented on the article format or method of delivery because as soon as I saw it, I immediately shut the page.

karlmcguire 8y ago

I agree that the situation in Venezuela is dire. I would expect an article about the situation would respect that, and rather than presenting it as some cinematic experience it would present the facts in an easily consumed format. This "article" doesn't do that.

csomar 8y ago

The format is as important. You can only learn about the Venezuela issue if information is transmitted and processed to your brain. The format can affect that in a big way.

sodafountan 8y ago

Couldn't agree more, the article is meant for accessibility, not everyone wants to read a multi-thousand word article and then analyze specific points. The point is Venezuelans are suffering terribly under a socialist dictatorship.

throwaway413 8y ago
I wonder if any of the people complaining watch movies, or exclusively just read books. It’s like multiple media formats can’t exist to convey different experiences.

Fnoord 8y ago

Your valuable contribution is also exactly zero. You're the pot calling the kettle black.

ken 8y ago

You typed 24 words of plain text and painted a picture of the situation in Venezuela -- how hard was that? We're not talking about the font-family being unfashionable. This NYTimes page simply doesn't work (i.e., let me view its content) for me here on the latest version of a major web browser. This is a big, mature organization whose purpose is telling stories about the world, and it's failing at that. By attempting to publish using cool web technologies that don't always work (apparently), they made the story about their medium, not their message. In the Scott McCloud system, they chose to emphasize step 6 (Surface) rather than step 5 (Craft). That's a perfectly valid artistic choice to make but they can't complain when people focus on that.

RobertRoberts 8y ago

>Utterly and completely unbelievable... I think we all understand that it's terrible down there, but there are many, many places in the world where there is tragedy. And in my own experience, there is, and always has been, tragedies consistently happening in my own local area. Discussing a tertiary topic does not diminish the the value of the main topic. And food for thought, maybe if that site hadn't made such a poor technical and artistic/design choices, they would have made more of a difference, and caused more people to get the information correctly. (and certainly would less likely to have detracted the discussions from the main point)

monkeynotes 8y ago

What, if anything, constructive could you add to help with the problem? Indignation at assumed apathy is something you may experience but if you are truly concerned please help us help.