3 ms·

> BTW: This lady has a Masters from MIT. She def knows her way around things. I agree with all of what you said until you bought up this unnecessary credential

> BTW: This lady has a Masters from MIT. She def knows her way around things. I agree with all of what you said until you bought up this unnecessary credential wrapper. It leaves a bad taste - statements like this. I don't know why. Going to MIT is doesn't make you an automatic genius nor does it mean that they know their way around things. It bothers me.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
Cool. I'll remove it. Not necessary for the narrative.
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  Thanks for being receptive.
pembrook 6y ago
> It leaves a bad taste - statements like this. I don't know why. Probably because those statements are logical fallacies, this one specifically is known as argumentum ad verecundiam in Latin, or "an appeal to authority." The fact that the arguer holds a prestigious title (or wears a fancy crown) cannot prove or disprove any given statement. The inability of humans to think logically has bothered people for thousands of years, read up on Aristotle for more info.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
  Just to set the record straight, here's why I mentioned it: I like her writing style. She writes in a pithy vernacular that belies her educational credentials. She writes like a cranky old man (takes one to know one). I think we need more writing like that, as opposed to the usual buzzword bouillabaisse that makes up a significant chunk of the tech WordSphere. When someone writes like that, it can be easy to dismiss (I know this). I didn't know about her, or her creds, and was pleasantly surprised, when I read them, so I figured I'd share my pleasure and surprise. I encourage highly-skilled, -experienced, -educated, -whatever folks to write in an accessible fashion; preferably, with warmth, humor and approachability. The world needs as much of that as possible. I could really care less whether or not she is a woman. It probably means a lot more to her, than it does to me. I enjoyed her work, and my enjoyment was improved, when I learned her background, and expressed my pleasure. I mean, why the heck do we always have to find things wrong with everything? Can't we just say "This is cool. I'd like to hold it up as an example of what I like."?
  - systemvoltage 6y ago
    I empathize with you in strongest way possible. I think we all should stop being offended so damn much. I don’t know why I felt the way I did but you’re right - take it easy, we need to be a bit more flexible and allow for room of interpretation. Sorry I felt that way in my initial comment. I think the offending word was “def”. > This lady has a Masters from MIT. She probably knows her way around things Sounds much better and less authoritative :) I know what you meant in the general sense. Side note about the author's credibility: Some of the writing from this article is stolen without credit: https://twitter.com/brucel/status/1305820902903382016 https://twitter.com/brucel/status/1305820902903382016 The whole flugelhorn sentence.
    - xmprt 6y ago
      The whole sentence? I couldn't even find a part of it other than the sentiment and "flugelhorn" Seems like a coincidence especially since bashing on all the steps required for modern web development isn't a new idea.
  - hackerfromthefu 6y ago
    Absolutely, it's time to just ignore the hecklers. They are subtracting from the value that the producers create! When the dead mass of hecklers and pc twitter twatters gets too high our civilisation will fall behind or fail because of it. Healing the pc overgrowth crisis is becoming important for our future prosperity and possibly survival.
hackerfromthefu 6y ago
Contrasting anecdote - the credential signalling was useful to provide context, else on JS topics it's rational to assume there is a fair to middling chance the writer really doesn't have a grasp of the wider industry body of knowledge, which quite evidently is fairly common for JS topic writers. I value the additional factual information over removing useful information to try and avoid upsetting anyone at all. I wish more people realised how much real value is lost when everything is filtered.
acoard 6y ago
Probably a more relevant fact is she's on the CSS Working Group, meaning she has a voice on the CSS spec.[0] She has an important and influential voice in this space. Lea Verou is an expert on frontend and has been for years. I have her book and really enjoy it, it's like a coffee table CSS book with gorgeous pictures and mindbending techniques. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_Verou https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_Verou

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago

Cool. I'll remove it. Not necessary for the narrative.

systemvoltage 6y ago
Thanks for being receptive.

pembrook 6y ago

> It leaves a bad taste - statements like this. I don't know why. Probably because those statements are logical fallacies, this one specifically is known as argumentum ad verecundiam in Latin, or "an appeal to authority." The fact that the arguer holds a prestigious title (or wears a fancy crown) cannot prove or disprove any given statement. The inability of humans to think logically has bothered people for thousands of years, read up on Aristotle for more info.

ChrisMarshallNY 6y ago
Just to set the record straight, here's why I mentioned it: I like her writing style. She writes in a pithy vernacular that belies her educational credentials. She writes like a cranky old man (takes one to know one). I think we need more writing like that, as opposed to the usual buzzword bouillabaisse that makes up a significant chunk of the tech WordSphere. When someone writes like that, it can be easy to dismiss (I know this). I didn't know about her, or her creds, and was pleasantly surprised, when I read them, so I figured I'd share my pleasure and surprise. I encourage highly-skilled, -experienced, -educated, -whatever folks to write in an accessible fashion; preferably, with warmth, humor and approachability. The world needs as much of that as possible. I could really care less whether or not she is a woman. It probably means a lot more to her, than it does to me. I enjoyed her work, and my enjoyment was improved, when I learned her background, and expressed my pleasure. I mean, why the heck do we always have to find things wrong with everything? Can't we just say "This is cool. I'd like to hold it up as an example of what I like."?
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  I empathize with you in strongest way possible. I think we all should stop being offended so damn much. I don’t know why I felt the way I did but you’re right - take it easy, we need to be a bit more flexible and allow for room of interpretation. Sorry I felt that way in my initial comment. I think the offending word was “def”. > This lady has a Masters from MIT. She probably knows her way around things Sounds much better and less authoritative :) I know what you meant in the general sense. Side note about the author's credibility: Some of the writing from this article is stolen without credit: https://twitter.com/brucel/status/1305820902903382016 https://twitter.com/brucel/status/1305820902903382016 The whole flugelhorn sentence.
  - xmprt 6y ago
    The whole sentence? I couldn't even find a part of it other than the sentiment and "flugelhorn" Seems like a coincidence especially since bashing on all the steps required for modern web development isn't a new idea.
- hackerfromthefu 6y ago
  Absolutely, it's time to just ignore the hecklers. They are subtracting from the value that the producers create! When the dead mass of hecklers and pc twitter twatters gets too high our civilisation will fall behind or fail because of it. Healing the pc overgrowth crisis is becoming important for our future prosperity and possibly survival.

hackerfromthefu 6y ago

Contrasting anecdote - the credential signalling was useful to provide context, else on JS topics it's rational to assume there is a fair to middling chance the writer really doesn't have a grasp of the wider industry body of knowledge, which quite evidently is fairly common for JS topic writers. I value the additional factual information over removing useful information to try and avoid upsetting anyone at all. I wish more people realised how much real value is lost when everything is filtered.

acoard 6y ago

Probably a more relevant fact is she's on the CSS Working Group, meaning she has a voice on the CSS spec.[0] She has an important and influential voice in this space. Lea Verou is an expert on frontend and has been for years. I have her book and really enjoy it, it's like a coffee table CSS book with gorgeous pictures and mindbending techniques. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_Verou https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lea_Verou