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Slightly unrelated: I love that Carmack uses backslash (\) to escape 'EOL' and signify that this will be a thread and not a standalone tweet. Much more programm

Slightly unrelated: I love that Carmack uses backslash (\) to escape 'EOL' and signify that this will be a thread and not a standalone tweet. Much more programmerly than "1/n" and "Thread".

ratww 6y ago
Interesting. It's programmerly, but at the same time I can see it catching up with non-devs the way @ and # did.
- sillysaurusx 6y ago
  FWIW I started using \ after noticing that Carmack did. https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1272706848957722624 https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1272706848957722624 It's neat how fast a good convention spreads.
MaxBarraclough 6y ago
> Much more programmerly than "1/n" On the other hand, null-terminated strings are avoided by most modern programming languages, which tend to explicitly store the string's length.
- dpedu 6y ago
  Twitter uses a static buffer size of 280 characters to avoid this problem.
  - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
    I meant the scheme used to indicate it's part of a multi-part message. the 1/n scheme indicates the length of the sequence upfront, whereas the backslash scheme doesn't.
    - webmaven 6y ago
      > the 1/n scheme indicates the length of the sequence upfront, whereas the backslash scheme doesn't. I've seen a variation of the 1/n scheme that literally uses "1/n", "2/n", etc. to avoid specifying the length up front. Usually the end of the sequence isn't indicated in that case.
loloquwowndueo 6y ago
Anyone who uses Twitter to post threads / long-form content is fundamentally misusing the platform - they should write a blog post (they’re free at Kmart) and link to it in a tweet. I don’t read Twitter threads because of this - how to trust the judgment and opinion of someone who misunderstands the medium they are using to such extent?
- soneca 6y ago
  I think it is a different use, not a ”misuse”. I am ok with it
- criddell 6y ago
  Doesn't the fact that it's John Carmack doing this somewhat disprove your theory? There's something to be said for writing where your audience is. Carmack isn't a blogger and doesn't often write longer posts.
- kranner 6y ago
  Tweet threads are normalised at this point, with support from Twitter as well (using the + button). Besides people are more likely to read a thread than to click through to your blogpost.
  - dpedu 6y ago
    I have to disagree. More often than not, when I send someone a link to a thread, Twitter decides to show only the first post or few. There's a link to see the rest of the thread but there is zero indication as to whether this link will reveal 1 or 2 or 1,000 further posts. I forget the exact text, but it's something small like "See replies" or similar. A plain link, no icon. For someone unfamiliar with Twitter, this is completely undiscoverable and it has caused me to no longer send Twitter threads to people I know that aren't on Twitter because of the confusion it causes. For me, I have no problem reading threads on Twitter. I look forward to the daily one from Foone. But if you put someone who hasn't used Twitter much before in front of this interface it becomes apparent very quickly how poor the UX is for threads. Right now, we're discussing the various symbols people put in their posts (which are severely space-limited!) to indicate that there is a thread. Why is this necessary?

Slightly unrelated: I love that Carmack uses backslash (\) to escape 'EOL' and signify that this will be a thread and not a standalone tweet. Much more programmerly than "1/n" and "Thread".

ratww 6y ago

Interesting. It's programmerly, but at the same time I can see it catching up with non-devs the way @ and # did.

sillysaurusx 6y ago
FWIW I started using \ after noticing that Carmack did. https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1272706848957722624 https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1272706848957722624 It's neat how fast a good convention spreads.

MaxBarraclough 6y ago

> Much more programmerly than "1/n" On the other hand, null-terminated strings are avoided by most modern programming languages, which tend to explicitly store the string's length.

dpedu 6y ago
Twitter uses a static buffer size of 280 characters to avoid this problem.
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  I meant the scheme used to indicate it's part of a multi-part message. the 1/n scheme indicates the length of the sequence upfront, whereas the backslash scheme doesn't.
  - webmaven 6y ago
    > the 1/n scheme indicates the length of the sequence upfront, whereas the backslash scheme doesn't. I've seen a variation of the 1/n scheme that literally uses "1/n", "2/n", etc. to avoid specifying the length up front. Usually the end of the sequence isn't indicated in that case.

loloquwowndueo 6y ago

Anyone who uses Twitter to post threads / long-form content is fundamentally misusing the platform - they should write a blog post (they’re free at Kmart) and link to it in a tweet. I don’t read Twitter threads because of this - how to trust the judgment and opinion of someone who misunderstands the medium they are using to such extent?

soneca 6y ago
I think it is a different use, not a ”misuse”. I am ok with it
criddell 6y ago
Doesn't the fact that it's John Carmack doing this somewhat disprove your theory? There's something to be said for writing where your audience is. Carmack isn't a blogger and doesn't often write longer posts.
kranner 6y ago
Tweet threads are normalised at this point, with support from Twitter as well (using the + button). Besides people are more likely to read a thread than to click through to your blogpost.
- dpedu 6y ago
  I have to disagree. More often than not, when I send someone a link to a thread, Twitter decides to show only the first post or few. There's a link to see the rest of the thread but there is zero indication as to whether this link will reveal 1 or 2 or 1,000 further posts. I forget the exact text, but it's something small like "See replies" or similar. A plain link, no icon. For someone unfamiliar with Twitter, this is completely undiscoverable and it has caused me to no longer send Twitter threads to people I know that aren't on Twitter because of the confusion it causes. For me, I have no problem reading threads on Twitter. I look forward to the daily one from Foone. But if you put someone who hasn't used Twitter much before in front of this interface it becomes apparent very quickly how poor the UX is for threads. Right now, we're discussing the various symbols people put in their posts (which are severely space-limited!) to indicate that there is a thread. Why is this necessary?