3 ms·

I will also say it took way too long to get to the point. Several points that could've been made with 1-2 examples had 5-6. It got a little exhausting.

netsharc 6y ago
After too much scrolling just now, I remember a similar-looking article, also about Apple Maps, from a few years ago that was probably from this same blog. His style is way too many illustrations and a few lines of text in between. Feels buzzfeedy. Sorry, just not for me.
- maparticle 6y ago
  Disagree. I enjoyed the investigative style and liked being able to follow along as the author laid out the evidence. I’d rather see how the they came to their conclusions than read a bunch of bullet points.
  - netsharc 6y ago
    I still went through it until it got to the SHORTCUTS section. At that point I got frustrated wondering what this pivot was all about and how much longer this article was going to go on until it got to the point (as many here have said) of what he wants to say. Sure, evidence, but the many tables and images that I had to focus on to interpret just distract from the flow of the story. Too many! There are also too many maps trying to show coverage, they don't take too much brain power to interpret, but after the first 3 I thought "yeah yeah yeah, I fucking get it". Obviously it's a free world to disagree, but if I were his editor I'd tell him his blog posts are ineffective because it's rambling, and if he presents it more concisely, more people would appreaciate it.
    - maparticle 6y ago
      Someone else pointed out that some of his earlier articles (written in the same style) got >1000 points on HN: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 Do you also think these were bad / annoying to read? (The reason I ask is because I started a newsletter at the beginning of the year and have been trying to emulate his style. But if people genuinely hate it, then I obviously don’t want to follow it. :))
      - netsharc 6y ago
        Yes they were annoying to me, and that's why I remembered them. Upvotes might not mean much, maybe other information addicts saw a dense page and "ooh, endorphins, upvote". After a certain point it just got exhausting to follow. Reading is simple, but looking at images so I can agree with the conlusion he made tasks the brain. Oh, the moat article even has footnotes that scrolls to the end of the page and you then have to click back... god damn, how!!! If he was in a conference room presenting a slideshow (each image being a slide), how long would his presentation be? At what point does he lose the majority of the audience? At least with slides people usually point out what they want you to pay attention to, and they don't do 7 slides of examples for one point (like the "look, Google Maps has outlines of buildings!" in the moat article).
        maparticle 6y ago
        Thank you for your response!
- brundolf 6y ago
  I appreciate his thoroughness, it just makes it hard to read when the reader doesn't actually care about seeing every single data point. I would prefer he give an "abstract" at the top and then go into all the details below.
- anony67 6y ago
  His earlier Apple Maps article ended up getting 1250 points on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 And an earlier one than that got 1960: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 So clearly some people like this style of article (myself included).
newbie34 6y ago
FWIW, I didn't notice any point that had 5 or 6 examples.

netsharc 6y ago

After too much scrolling just now, I remember a similar-looking article, also about Apple Maps, from a few years ago that was probably from this same blog. His style is way too many illustrations and a few lines of text in between. Feels buzzfeedy. Sorry, just not for me.

maparticle 6y ago
Disagree. I enjoyed the investigative style and liked being able to follow along as the author laid out the evidence. I’d rather see how the they came to their conclusions than read a bunch of bullet points.
- netsharc 6y ago
  I still went through it until it got to the SHORTCUTS section. At that point I got frustrated wondering what this pivot was all about and how much longer this article was going to go on until it got to the point (as many here have said) of what he wants to say. Sure, evidence, but the many tables and images that I had to focus on to interpret just distract from the flow of the story. Too many! There are also too many maps trying to show coverage, they don't take too much brain power to interpret, but after the first 3 I thought "yeah yeah yeah, I fucking get it". Obviously it's a free world to disagree, but if I were his editor I'd tell him his blog posts are ineffective because it's rambling, and if he presents it more concisely, more people would appreaciate it.
  - maparticle 6y ago
    Someone else pointed out that some of his earlier articles (written in the same style) got >1000 points on HN: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 Do you also think these were bad / annoying to read? (The reason I ask is because I started a newsletter at the beginning of the year and have been trying to emulate his style. But if people genuinely hate it, then I obviously don’t want to follow it. :))
    - netsharc 6y ago
      Yes they were annoying to me, and that's why I remembered them. Upvotes might not mean much, maybe other information addicts saw a dense page and "ooh, endorphins, upvote". After a certain point it just got exhausting to follow. Reading is simple, but looking at images so I can agree with the conlusion he made tasks the brain. Oh, the moat article even has footnotes that scrolls to the end of the page and you then have to click back... god damn, how!!! If he was in a conference room presenting a slideshow (each image being a slide), how long would his presentation be? At what point does he lose the majority of the audience? At least with slides people usually point out what they want you to pay attention to, and they don't do 7 slides of examples for one point (like the "look, Google Maps has outlines of buildings!" in the moat article).
      - maparticle 6y ago
        Thank you for your response!
brundolf 6y ago
I appreciate his thoroughness, it just makes it hard to read when the reader doesn't actually care about seeing every single data point. I would prefer he give an "abstract" at the top and then go into all the details below.
anony67 6y ago
His earlier Apple Maps article ended up getting 1250 points on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18358902 And an earlier one than that got 1960: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15965653 So clearly some people like this style of article (myself included).

newbie34 6y ago

FWIW, I didn't notice any point that had 5 or 6 examples.