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Can we please stop describing technical things using feelings-based words? It's foppish, it makes tech sound really really disingenuous and fake, and it cheapen

by tomc1985 5y ago

Can we please stop describing technical things using feelings-based words? It's foppish, it makes tech sound really really disingenuous and fake, and it cheapens the words as well. "Clean," "well-organized," "atomic" ... all adjectives, all descriptive, zero emotion

politelemon 5y ago
Whenever I see the word 'beautiful', I often find that thing is not beautiful. But it gets used, a _lot_. The only explanation I can come up with, is they are simply assuming that you are incapable of forming your own thoughts, and need to be told what to feel.
- tomc1985 5y ago
  Copywriters have destroyed the meaning of "beautiful"
striking 5y ago
"Clean" is used in this blog post. I think it is kind of weird to ask folks not to use feelings-based words when the point here is that they are describing their opinions. When Josh writes > Well, there is no one “right” way, but I've tried lots of different approaches in the 7+ years I've been using React, and I've iterated my way to a solution I'm really happy with. how would you prefer he have phrased it? The iteration has ended in joy for him. Should he not express his joy? Sure, he could express in a technically-phrased way why it causes him joy (maybe tighter iteration loops, maybe easier generation of value, etc. etc.) but then he'd have to prove those things, wouldn't he? It's hard enough to just get your opinions out there without also having to prove each one as if you were declaring an ultimate statement of fact.
- tomc1985 5y ago
  Then can we at least stick to words with precision, and not the thesaurus drivel popularized by marketing people? The other thing is that while "delightful" might be as such to him, I have personally found that my opinions simply do not align with people who speak like this. Using that sort of vocabulary is likely to get you written off as a moron among some folks Technical writing should be simple and plain. And yes I am judging entirely by the title.
tshaddox 5y ago
Are there useful technical qualities that don't reduce to feelings?

politelemon 5y ago

Whenever I see the word 'beautiful', I often find that thing is not beautiful. But it gets used, a _lot_. The only explanation I can come up with, is they are simply assuming that you are incapable of forming your own thoughts, and need to be told what to feel.

tomc1985 5y ago
Copywriters have destroyed the meaning of "beautiful"

striking 5y ago

"Clean" is used in this blog post. I think it is kind of weird to ask folks not to use feelings-based words when the point here is that they are describing their opinions. When Josh writes > Well, there is no one “right” way, but I've tried lots of different approaches in the 7+ years I've been using React, and I've iterated my way to a solution I'm really happy with. how would you prefer he have phrased it? The iteration has ended in joy for him. Should he not express his joy? Sure, he could express in a technically-phrased way why it causes him joy (maybe tighter iteration loops, maybe easier generation of value, etc. etc.) but then he'd have to prove those things, wouldn't he? It's hard enough to just get your opinions out there without also having to prove each one as if you were declaring an ultimate statement of fact.

tomc1985 5y ago
Then can we at least stick to words with precision, and not the thesaurus drivel popularized by marketing people? The other thing is that while "delightful" might be as such to him, I have personally found that my opinions simply do not align with people who speak like this. Using that sort of vocabulary is likely to get you written off as a moron among some folks Technical writing should be simple and plain. And yes I am judging entirely by the title.

tshaddox 5y ago

Are there useful technical qualities that don't reduce to feelings?