3 ms·

> The actual tweet (3 down from the first one which is all just suspense building) I believe that’s called “telling a story”.

paulcole 4y ago
This never fails to crack me up. You should check out the comments on any New Yorker link posted on HN. “The author seemed to use a lot of words and took a long time to get to her point in a very roundabout way. This could’ve been 90% shorter.” It’s the literary equivalent of Twitter-is-a-weekend-project.
- OJFord 4y ago
  Good writing in a good format doesn't make you feel like that though. You could also say someone rambling on about something, repeating themselves, using lots of uh, like filler words and stuff and that sort of thing and just generally not really..not really getting to the point is 'called a conversation'; sure, doesn't mean it couldn't be done better.
  - simmerup 4y ago
    Good communicators welcome the chance to get on the same wavelength as the writer. It helps you understand them better.
Grustaf 4y ago
There is a difference between optimising engagement by padding a trivial one sentence story, and writing good literature. Sahil Bloom is not Henry James.
- Bakary 4y ago
  The people who spend a lot of time pointing out the signal to noise ratio aren't going to be reading material similar ot that of Henry James either, because they'll interpret it as mostly noise and see the plot as the most important part.
  - Grustaf 4y ago
    I'm not sure what you mean here, but if your point is that the average twitter user probably doesn't read real literature then I'd agree.
    - Bakary 4y ago
      It would be hard to explain but there's somewhat of an ironic tendency among techies to dismiss certain types of knowledge (such as the show-don't-tell aspect of good literature) on account of pursuing rationality and optimization.
- mcphage 4y ago
  True. Unfortunately, Henry James has really cut back on his tweeting ever since he died a hundred years ago, so I guess we gotta make do.
netsharc 4y ago
People abusing Twitter for long-form. Imagine if you saw a tweet like the following: > I was out for a drink with a friend. > We’ll call him George. > As we settled in, George asked about my life and how I was feeling. > At first, I gave him the standard response that we’ve all grown so accustomed to: > “I’m good. Busy!" > He stared blankly through my empty words. Where's the info, it's just noise! God, it even has Buzzfeed formatting...

paulcole 4y ago

This never fails to crack me up. You should check out the comments on any New Yorker link posted on HN. “The author seemed to use a lot of words and took a long time to get to her point in a very roundabout way. This could’ve been 90% shorter.” It’s the literary equivalent of Twitter-is-a-weekend-project.

OJFord 4y ago
Good writing in a good format doesn't make you feel like that though. You could also say someone rambling on about something, repeating themselves, using lots of uh, like filler words and stuff and that sort of thing and just generally not really..not really getting to the point is 'called a conversation'; sure, doesn't mean it couldn't be done better.
- simmerup 4y ago
  Good communicators welcome the chance to get on the same wavelength as the writer. It helps you understand them better.

Grustaf 4y ago

There is a difference between optimising engagement by padding a trivial one sentence story, and writing good literature. Sahil Bloom is not Henry James.

Bakary 4y ago
The people who spend a lot of time pointing out the signal to noise ratio aren't going to be reading material similar ot that of Henry James either, because they'll interpret it as mostly noise and see the plot as the most important part.
- Grustaf 4y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean here, but if your point is that the average twitter user probably doesn't read real literature then I'd agree.
  - Bakary 4y ago
    It would be hard to explain but there's somewhat of an ironic tendency among techies to dismiss certain types of knowledge (such as the show-don't-tell aspect of good literature) on account of pursuing rationality and optimization.
mcphage 4y ago
True. Unfortunately, Henry James has really cut back on his tweeting ever since he died a hundred years ago, so I guess we gotta make do.

netsharc 4y ago

People abusing Twitter for long-form. Imagine if you saw a tweet like the following: > I was out for a drink with a friend. > We’ll call him George. > As we settled in, George asked about my life and how I was feeling. > At first, I gave him the standard response that we’ve all grown so accustomed to: > “I’m good. Busy!" > He stared blankly through my empty words. Where's the info, it's just noise! God, it even has Buzzfeed formatting...