3 ms·

I don't know who this author is, but the snarky, irritating writing style makes me not want to read anything he/she has to say.

barrenko 7y ago
Should people who write be sheepish and meek? I don't understand the "arrogance" argument.
- ceilingcorner 7y ago
  I said snarky and irritating, not arrogant. Here are some examples of what I mean: - (I predict the USA will merrily go its own way and faceplant, unless y'all elect a competent next POTUS. Or VPOTUS, insofar as Biden appears to be past it and Pence is incompetent at anything but arse-licking.) - Extra lulz in the UK: the Prime Minister is out of hospital but hasn't been seen since Monday—my guess is he's hors de combat for at least another two weeks. A quarter of the senior ministers of state are rabid objectivists who actively hate the poor and want them to die, and a majority of the cabinet are still going full steam ahead for a no-deal Brexit transition on January 31st, at which point the UK economy shrinks another 8% overnight. Really unnecessary. Maybe there are interesting thoughts in this blog post, but adding stuff like this doesn't lend me to take you seriously.
  - everyone 7y ago
    I find his style of writing quite elegant. He gets his point across, vividly, in a highly terse way. Though I agree this article is BS. Where are your references man? where is your data?
    - ceilingcorner 7y ago
      In no way whatsoever is that writing style elegant, terse, or vivid. It’s an angry puerile rant.
      - everyone 7y ago
        ?? Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
  - goatinaboat 7y ago
    A quarter of the senior ministers of state are rabid objectivists who actively hate the poor and want them to die It’s ironic that so many authors who hate Ayn Rand fall into exactly the same trap as her: start with their own politics then attempt to construct a story around it in which it saves the day/country/entire universe.
gpderetta 7y ago
Charlie Stross, famed FS author and one of my favourites. He is an ex programmer and also sporadically comments on HackerNews as cstross.
- lnanek2 7y ago
  I like his fiction, but this rant is really unsupported. I don't like Trump either, but I don't go around saying he'll be impeached a second time. On what counts? The guy seems to just be having fun doom saying with little factual support.
goatinaboat 7y ago
He’s on here as cstross :-) He’s written some good books in the past but a lot of his recent stuff has very obviously just been churned out to meet a deadline or contract for x number of books. Seems to be a trend recently, authors have abandoned the classic trilogy for something more open-ended but then run out of steam after book 4 and have nowhere to go. GRRM being the highest profile example but it’s an industry-wide phenomenon.
shantara 7y ago
Charles Stross. I like some of his SciFi books, but his blog posts are getting more and more political and ranting. This is far from the first global collapse he predicts. His blogging style combined with outright deleting the comments from people he disagrees with, or those who don't share his political beliefs makes it increasingly less likely I will read his next published book.

barrenko 7y ago

Should people who write be sheepish and meek? I don't understand the "arrogance" argument.

ceilingcorner 7y ago
I said snarky and irritating, not arrogant. Here are some examples of what I mean: - (I predict the USA will merrily go its own way and faceplant, unless y'all elect a competent next POTUS. Or VPOTUS, insofar as Biden appears to be past it and Pence is incompetent at anything but arse-licking.) - Extra lulz in the UK: the Prime Minister is out of hospital but hasn't been seen since Monday—my guess is he's hors de combat for at least another two weeks. A quarter of the senior ministers of state are rabid objectivists who actively hate the poor and want them to die, and a majority of the cabinet are still going full steam ahead for a no-deal Brexit transition on January 31st, at which point the UK economy shrinks another 8% overnight. Really unnecessary. Maybe there are interesting thoughts in this blog post, but adding stuff like this doesn't lend me to take you seriously.
- everyone 7y ago
  I find his style of writing quite elegant. He gets his point across, vividly, in a highly terse way. Though I agree this article is BS. Where are your references man? where is your data?
  - ceilingcorner 7y ago
    In no way whatsoever is that writing style elegant, terse, or vivid. It’s an angry puerile rant.
    - everyone 7y ago
      ?? Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
- goatinaboat 7y ago
  A quarter of the senior ministers of state are rabid objectivists who actively hate the poor and want them to die It’s ironic that so many authors who hate Ayn Rand fall into exactly the same trap as her: start with their own politics then attempt to construct a story around it in which it saves the day/country/entire universe.

gpderetta 7y ago

Charlie Stross, famed FS author and one of my favourites. He is an ex programmer and also sporadically comments on HackerNews as cstross.

lnanek2 7y ago
I like his fiction, but this rant is really unsupported. I don't like Trump either, but I don't go around saying he'll be impeached a second time. On what counts? The guy seems to just be having fun doom saying with little factual support.

goatinaboat 7y ago

He’s on here as cstross :-) He’s written some good books in the past but a lot of his recent stuff has very obviously just been churned out to meet a deadline or contract for x number of books. Seems to be a trend recently, authors have abandoned the classic trilogy for something more open-ended but then run out of steam after book 4 and have nowhere to go. GRRM being the highest profile example but it’s an industry-wide phenomenon.

shantara 7y ago

Charles Stross. I like some of his SciFi books, but his blog posts are getting more and more political and ranting. This is far from the first global collapse he predicts. His blogging style combined with outright deleting the comments from people he disagrees with, or those who don't share his political beliefs makes it increasingly less likely I will read his next published book.