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What a wall of text. I stopped reading half way through. Advice to author: Condense your points, avoid whining (or coming across as such), tighten up your writi

What a wall of text. I stopped reading half way through. Advice to author: Condense your points, avoid whining (or coming across as such), tighten up your writing. Expressing yourself clearly and to the point makes a big difference in reader engagement and (ultimately) understanding and support for your POV.

owyn 5y ago
Sure, when your "I Quit" rant needs a table of contents you might want to dial it back a little. They make a lot of valid points but you can also just stop working on stuff (and there's a paragraph saying that several other plugin makers have just quietly quit). They're making this post for multiple reasons. You might want to read it and think about some of it, what would you do in the same situation, etc? Having been in the same kind of mood at times, I can totally understand the motivation to write this all down and walk out the door with two middle fingers in the air saying "I QUIT".
neilv 5y ago
Your suggestions of how to tighten it up seem good, were their only goal to communicate to the largest audience. But I'm guessing that's not their only goal, especially since the topic is of course a major personal investment for the writer. What if the exercise of expressing themself is a primary goal, and this is how they wanted to do it? What if they want to communicate more, to a smaller audience, maybe within that community, where some people will invest more time in reading than the median HNer?
Xorlev 5y ago
It's an outpouring of the author's thoughts, feelings, and background of the whole space. Through it, you get a sense for how invested she is in a niche space. I can't speak for the author, but it felt like catharsis in blogpost form, rather than a plea for understanding or a call to arms -- such a post does not need to get to the point or cater to your wishes. It's unfortunate that your takeaway was "TL;DR plz, also stop whining". HN's rules specifically call out this behavior: > Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. Your comment comes off as a very shallow attempt at critical feedback, and I have a hard time believing it's intended to do anything other than tear the author down.
- busterarm 5y ago
  Why is HN a venue for Dear Diary entries?
  - sadmann1 5y ago
    Try doing the same as a man and see how far you get without getting flagged lol
- myself248 5y ago
  I found it very effective, because I'm curious about VCV Rack and modular synths in general, so the journey through the technical background was technically interesting. (Also the sweet-ass soundtrack provided by the in-page Winamp was exquisite.) It also gave me a solid sense that the author was not just a drive-by whiner, but a solid contributor to the ecosystem with a passel of really fascinating ideas either already executed, or on deck. With the groundwork thus established, the eventual crumbling of the community was all the more engaging. It affected me because I'm the target audience -- someone who cares deeply about both modular synths, and about communities being good to their contributors. If someone's merely one of those things or the other, the post will probably strike them as rambling in one way or another, and that's arguably fine because they're not the target audience. That being said, tearing down a post because it didn't speak to you is, exactly, a shallow dismissal.
matthewh806 5y ago
wow, such good writing advice here that you've been greyed out...!

owyn 5y ago

Sure, when your "I Quit" rant needs a table of contents you might want to dial it back a little. They make a lot of valid points but you can also just stop working on stuff (and there's a paragraph saying that several other plugin makers have just quietly quit). They're making this post for multiple reasons. You might want to read it and think about some of it, what would you do in the same situation, etc? Having been in the same kind of mood at times, I can totally understand the motivation to write this all down and walk out the door with two middle fingers in the air saying "I QUIT".

neilv 5y ago

Your suggestions of how to tighten it up seem good, were their only goal to communicate to the largest audience. But I'm guessing that's not their only goal, especially since the topic is of course a major personal investment for the writer. What if the exercise of expressing themself is a primary goal, and this is how they wanted to do it? What if they want to communicate more, to a smaller audience, maybe within that community, where some people will invest more time in reading than the median HNer?

Xorlev 5y ago

It's an outpouring of the author's thoughts, feelings, and background of the whole space. Through it, you get a sense for how invested she is in a niche space. I can't speak for the author, but it felt like catharsis in blogpost form, rather than a plea for understanding or a call to arms -- such a post does not need to get to the point or cater to your wishes. It's unfortunate that your takeaway was "TL;DR plz, also stop whining". HN's rules specifically call out this behavior: > Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. Your comment comes off as a very shallow attempt at critical feedback, and I have a hard time believing it's intended to do anything other than tear the author down.

busterarm 5y ago
Why is HN a venue for Dear Diary entries?
- sadmann1 5y ago
  Try doing the same as a man and see how far you get without getting flagged lol
myself248 5y ago
I found it very effective, because I'm curious about VCV Rack and modular synths in general, so the journey through the technical background was technically interesting. (Also the sweet-ass soundtrack provided by the in-page Winamp was exquisite.) It also gave me a solid sense that the author was not just a drive-by whiner, but a solid contributor to the ecosystem with a passel of really fascinating ideas either already executed, or on deck. With the groundwork thus established, the eventual crumbling of the community was all the more engaging. It affected me because I'm the target audience -- someone who cares deeply about both modular synths, and about communities being good to their contributors. If someone's merely one of those things or the other, the post will probably strike them as rambling in one way or another, and that's arguably fine because they're not the target audience. That being said, tearing down a post because it didn't speak to you is, exactly, a shallow dismissal.

matthewh806 5y ago

wow, such good writing advice here that you've been greyed out...!