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Being a natural optimizer, maximizing the value I get out of Twitter (and anything else) is an ongoing process. That process obviously needs tweaking if it made

by edw519 15y ago

Being a natural optimizer, maximizing the value I get out of Twitter (and anything else) is an ongoing process. That process obviously needs tweaking if it made me unfollow @danielbmarkham. Daniel, you're one of my favorite writers, both here at HN and on your blog. You always find a way to get me thinking, no matter what you write about. Consider yourself re-followed. I know that you and I, along with many others, have tried to do our part (with mixed results) elevating the quality of discourse here at HN. Now its up to many of us to continue that effort in under 140 characters. Based on my feed, it seems like that's always a work in process.

DanielBMarkham 15y ago
I'm going to take a bit of a contrary position, Ed. Do I really want to live in a world where great thoughts and works of literature are squashed into 140 characters? Nope. God, I hope not. I love being brief, pithy, and terse, but I fear that we look at Twitter as an optimization problem for one metric when in fact it is a completely different medium with it's own strengths and weaknesses. I am not trying to optimize Twitter for saying the same kinds of things I would say on HN. This would be like picking up a kazoo and trying to optimize it for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. I am trying to optimize Twitter for exploring those unique types of things that Twitter is good at expressing. Different instruments and mediums excel at different things. In either case, we're all probably going to have to figure this out as we go along. :) I imagine there is no correct answer to "What's the best way to use Twitter?"
- RockyMcNuts 15y ago
  Do I want to live in a world where love, tragedy, life are squashed into the 17 on of a haiku, or the 14 verses of a sonnet? not disagreeing with you... if you don't want to write or read haiku or sonnet or Twitter, that's cool. But a good Twitter feed has a certain value, which would not be the same if tweets were unlimited in length. The constraints, conventions, and formalisms are inherent to any artistic medium. Twitter is more of an alert/pointer/headline feed, not necessarily a feed of entire opuses (opi?). Although there are some good haiku and (ultra)short story feeds LOL.
- jcr 15y ago
  > Do I really want to live in a world where great thoughts and works of literature are squashed into 140 characters? Nope. God, I hope not. Don't worry. As you know all too well, I was cursed at birth to write weighty tomes. If the world gets squashed to 140 characters, just send me an email. ;)

by edw519 15y ago

DanielBMarkham 15y ago

I'm going to take a bit of a contrary position, Ed. Do I really want to live in a world where great thoughts and works of literature are squashed into 140 characters? Nope. God, I hope not. I love being brief, pithy, and terse, but I fear that we look at Twitter as an optimization problem for one metric when in fact it is a completely different medium with it's own strengths and weaknesses. I am not trying to optimize Twitter for saying the same kinds of things I would say on HN. This would be like picking up a kazoo and trying to optimize it for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. I am trying to optimize Twitter for exploring those unique types of things that Twitter is good at expressing. Different instruments and mediums excel at different things. In either case, we're all probably going to have to figure this out as we go along. :) I imagine there is no correct answer to "What's the best way to use Twitter?"

RockyMcNuts 15y ago
Do I want to live in a world where love, tragedy, life are squashed into the 17 on of a haiku, or the 14 verses of a sonnet? not disagreeing with you... if you don't want to write or read haiku or sonnet or Twitter, that's cool. But a good Twitter feed has a certain value, which would not be the same if tweets were unlimited in length. The constraints, conventions, and formalisms are inherent to any artistic medium. Twitter is more of an alert/pointer/headline feed, not necessarily a feed of entire opuses (opi?). Although there are some good haiku and (ultra)short story feeds LOL.
jcr 15y ago
> Do I really want to live in a world where great thoughts and works of literature are squashed into 140 characters? Nope. God, I hope not. Don't worry. As you know all too well, I was cursed at birth to write weighty tomes. If the world gets squashed to 140 characters, just send me an email. ;)