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A writing tip: even in lists of "don't"s like this, find a way to write directives/imperatives in a positive sense. Asking readers to keep mentally flipping t
by philsnow 3y ago
A writing tip: even in lists of "don't"s like this, find a way to write directives/imperatives in a positive sense.
Asking readers to keep mentally flipping the sense of the thing you're telling them to do just adds cognitive load and makes it harder for them to pay attention to what you want them to pay attention to.
Write "do"s, not "don't"s.
- blocko 3y agoI mostly agree, but there is one slight benefit: whenever I read one of these articles, each topic acts as a little quiz where I get to test whether I think it's a do or a don't before seeing the explanation
- hot_gril 3y agoGlad I wasn't the only one confused by this.
- philbo 3y agoYeah, a lot of people have said this. I was wary of asserting "do's" because I'm not a Postgres expert. It felt more honest to phrase stuff in terms of my own mistakes and "don't do what I did", but of course that's confusing. And then I ruined it by still asserting "do's" in the bodies of some sections.