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...and hurried back to Hacker News to engage in serious, hyperbole-free discussions with fellow bigbrains? :rolls eyes:

tristor 5y ago
Not necessarily, but the character limit necessarily limits the amount of seriousness and quality within content on Twitter. It's very format necessitates that Twitter is full of vapid and inane content, and driven by pithy outrage inducement.
- wly_cdgr 5y ago
  Or you could say that the limit forces you to be concise, precise, and vivid. Many of the world's most admired poems would fit in one Tweet.
  - monocasa 5y ago
    Many of the world's most admired poems have had their statements argued about for centuries because they're so vague too.
    - wly_cdgr 5y ago
      So you're saying people have cared about these poems enough that they've formed communities around discussing them for literal centuries? :)
      - monocasa 5y ago
        What I'm saying is that it doesn't force you to be precise (or vivid, whatever that means in practice), making it not a great choice for a lot of the mass communication roles Twitter has been foisted into.
  - jjk166 5y ago
    The word limit might in theory encourage it, but in practice twitter certainly does not require it. In fact, you're generally better off being overnice, imprecise, and livid. People could tweet a poem, but they don't.
  - 1_player 5y ago
    Many of the harshest insults also fit in one Tweet. Unless you're Shakespeare or a master of your language of similar stature, it's very hard to convey a deep and nuanced thought with so few characters. People write books because the more complex the idea, the more words it requires to fully explain.
    - wly_cdgr 5y ago
      It's very hard to convey a deep and nuanced thought with any number of characters. People add more because they're anxious they're failing and adding more words is easier than picking better words. And because you need 250 pages worth of them to get a publishing contract, of course It's uncommon to read a 300 page book that couldn't have made its points better in 30 pages - and properly rare to read one that couldn't have done it in 150

Not necessarily, but the character limit necessarily limits the amount of seriousness and quality within content on Twitter. It's very format necessitates that Twitter is full of vapid and inane content, and driven by pithy outrage inducement.

wly_cdgr 5y ago
Or you could say that the limit forces you to be concise, precise, and vivid. Many of the world's most admired poems would fit in one Tweet.
- monocasa 5y ago
  Many of the world's most admired poems have had their statements argued about for centuries because they're so vague too.
  - wly_cdgr 5y ago
    So you're saying people have cared about these poems enough that they've formed communities around discussing them for literal centuries? :)
    - monocasa 5y ago
      What I'm saying is that it doesn't force you to be precise (or vivid, whatever that means in practice), making it not a great choice for a lot of the mass communication roles Twitter has been foisted into.
- jjk166 5y ago
  The word limit might in theory encourage it, but in practice twitter certainly does not require it. In fact, you're generally better off being overnice, imprecise, and livid. People could tweet a poem, but they don't.
- 1_player 5y ago
  Many of the harshest insults also fit in one Tweet. Unless you're Shakespeare or a master of your language of similar stature, it's very hard to convey a deep and nuanced thought with so few characters. People write books because the more complex the idea, the more words it requires to fully explain.
  - wly_cdgr 5y ago
    It's very hard to convey a deep and nuanced thought with any number of characters. People add more because they're anxious they're failing and adding more words is easier than picking better words. And because you need 250 pages worth of them to get a publishing contract, of course It's uncommon to read a 300 page book that couldn't have made its points better in 30 pages - and properly rare to read one that couldn't have done it in 150