> Writing text that can be understood by as many people as possible seems like an obvious best practice. Not necessarily? If what you’re writing is intended fo

> Writing text that can be understood by as many people as possible seems like an obvious best practice. Not necessarily? If what you’re writing is intended for a completely general audience, or an audience that follows the distribution of an idealized general audience, maybe. And if the most important goal is understandability as well. But often writing is for purposes and audiences other than that. Taking it as axiomatic that the first and most important goal is comprehension by the widest possible audience suggests you should write at (at most) a fifth or sixth grade level. Anything above that and you’ve already failed at the “obvious best practice”.