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From the article: > "In the few short days since he died,"
by grzm 6y ago
From the article:
> "In the few short days since he died,"
- justicezyx 6y agoMy condolences. But I must point out that that's an implicit statement buried roughly the last 1/3 of the article. That's not how to describe an event.
- bigiain 6y agoIt's not a technical document. It's a story. Intentionally writing ambiguity into your API documentation would be insane, but building on ambiguity to later resolve it is a powerful way to add meaning and emphasis to a story. If you want to read "descriptions of events", read the coroners report, not personal Medium posts.
- justicezyx 6y agoWell, a story I am confused after 5 seconds... BTW, this is a personal take. Everyone is allowed to write in their own style. No judgement on that. The point is that one certainly can write in a way that is readable. The Lord of the ring is quite mystic, but it's written in a way that let readers follow along and enjoy. That'd be the style I appreciate and mimic.
- bigiain 6y agoThe Lord Of The Rings did not open with "One does not simply walk into Modor". Blade Runner didn't open with "Yes, Rachel is a replicant". You were confused after 5 seconds _because_ of the way he chose to write his story. It's proof that it was "readable" and well written because you reacted like that. Like you, I spent the first 2/3rds of the post wondering what "gone" meant. When I got to the bit where he came out and said "dead", the whole of the previous ambiguity and confusion resolved in a quite powerful way, almost as though I'd been internally hoping "gone" just meant "they drifted apart after stopping working so closely together". It hit me like a slap when the truth was revealed, which made the feeling of compassion for Ryan's loss and sorry even more bittersweet. I totally appreciated this style. _My_ "personal take" is that your personal take is based on a misunderstanding of the medium you're reading and the authors intentions. (Perhaps not a totally unexpected misunderstanding, given the site we're on and the more usual type of articles HN links to. But I doubt you have too much difficulty getting your head into "API documentation" or "political opinion" mode in the first few sentences if an article, I just don't quite understand why you (and a few other comments) didn't work out "Oh, a personal story piece" and either read it in that mindset or click back if they're not your thing.) I'm guessing you've never read many murder mysteries? Or watched many crime or medical tv series? Or played Cluedo(/Clue)? Do you think each round of that game should open with "So Professor Plumb did it in the library with the candlestick. Right, you start." Should CSI open with "So we convicted him on DNA evidence found in the back seat of the Uber we linked to his credit card"?
- justicezyx 6y agoI did not ask to start with "my friend died of car crash", while that certainly would make me more engaged with the article.
- bigiain 6y agoI guess I misunderstood what you meant when you wrote these then: "I still could not figure out what happened to the "gone" cofounder? Dead?" ... "They dont want to write at the beginning of what going on..."
- MattRix 6y agoWhat? It’s literally titled “On the death of a cofounder”. How are you confused?
- Igelau 6y agoIt wasn't at first. At time of posting, the title of the article at Medium used "loss", and is reflected in the headline here. I also figured it was about yet another cofounder quitting yet another company.