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Experts say it was likely a little bit of all the above, but that one element of the home’s recent renovation is actually the most affordable and important thin

Experts say it was likely a little bit of all the above, but that one element of the home’s recent renovation is actually the most affordable and important thing people can do to try and protect their homes. PART 2: A PAINSTAKING RENOVATION Millikin and his wife, Dora Millikin, fell in love with the Front Street house several years ago... Wow. This kind of narrative cliffhanger makes sense in a thriller. It does not make sense in an article on how to prevent houses from burning down. I'm not going to blame the author, since this is more of a cultural and institutional problem, but this article reads like a caricature.

jdlshore 3y ago
This is a type of article called a “human-interest story,” and isn’t intended to teach you how to protect your home from fire. Instead, it’s soft news intended to create an emotional connection to the impact of the fires. This sort of story has been a staple of news writing for decades. It’s not new, and it’s not a sign of any sort of cultural problem. (Except, perhaps, HN’s cultural problem of middlebrow dismissals.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-interest_story https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-interest_story
- brutusborn 3y ago
  I’m probably the HN dismissive you are talking about, but I don’t understand the purpose of writing something that establishes a negative emotional reaction to something without engaging with how that something can be fixed. It’s like saying “I’m happy to put a lot of work into making my readers feel bad for person X, but I can’t be bothered researching how to help person X or others who could become X in the future.” What am I missing? On second thoughts maybe it’s useful to separate the emotional articles from the pragmatic ones. Maybe this author is better at empathy and not good at problem solving.
  - minitoar 3y ago
    You might've missed the part of the story where the author includes quotes from a subject matter expert about how to address the problem.
  - jdlshore 3y ago
    > What am I missing? That not everyone is as solution-oriented as you, and that being solution-oriented isn’t inherently superior.
    - brutusborn 3y ago
      I get that I may think differently, but I still don’t understand why being solution-oriented isn’t superior? What’s the point of reading and writing if not to learn things about the world to help reduce suffering through solutions? I guess you can just read and write for the enjoyment of it, but it seems weird to do so in a case where there is a huge potential to reduce suffering though sharing knowledge.
      - jdlshore 3y ago
        You have a massive blind spot here. As one solution-oriented person to another, please make it a goal to understand and fix this blind spot. It will make you more successful in life, and will make you more effective at implementing your solutions, too. I’m a consultant, and my job is getting people to change their software development processes so they are more effective. In the early days, that included things like “use source control.” Now, my advice is more subtle. Regardless, the job hasn’t changed. You might think that such a job involves showing people an obviously better way, and then helping while they put the idea into practice. I thought so too, at first. Narrator voice: It does not. First and foremost, the job is making an emotional connection with people so they want to change. Convincing them that you’re on their side, that you understand their world, and that you have their best interests at heart. Ultimately, it requires empathy. If you continue to approach problems without empathy, continue to dismiss people who take a people-centric rather than solution-centric view of the world, and continue to devalue the simple pleasures people take from doing things that don’t solve problems… you will be much less effective in life than you otherwise could be.
        QuantumGood 3y ago
        As teachers for over thirty years, my wife and I have a saying "nothing changes until motivations and behavior change". Motivations don't respond to logic well. Lots of people wonder why they have limited success in areas they have a lot of knowledge and interest Behavior changes are even tougher, usually meaning new behaviors can often only piggyback on existing habits. We think that if we think it, we will do it, but lots of factors slow us down, including misunderstanding procrastination and the far-reaching effects of improving sleep and diet.
  - HWR_14 3y ago
    I think it's just as simple as both article types you identified will exist in the paper. People can read both, just A, just B or neither. Making a superarticle that features both is better for those who read both but far worse for those who read just A or just B.

jdlshore 3y ago

This is a type of article called a “human-interest story,” and isn’t intended to teach you how to protect your home from fire. Instead, it’s soft news intended to create an emotional connection to the impact of the fires. This sort of story has been a staple of news writing for decades. It’s not new, and it’s not a sign of any sort of cultural problem. (Except, perhaps, HN’s cultural problem of middlebrow dismissals.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-interest_story https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-interest_story

brutusborn 3y ago
I’m probably the HN dismissive you are talking about, but I don’t understand the purpose of writing something that establishes a negative emotional reaction to something without engaging with how that something can be fixed. It’s like saying “I’m happy to put a lot of work into making my readers feel bad for person X, but I can’t be bothered researching how to help person X or others who could become X in the future.” What am I missing? On second thoughts maybe it’s useful to separate the emotional articles from the pragmatic ones. Maybe this author is better at empathy and not good at problem solving.
- minitoar 3y ago
  You might've missed the part of the story where the author includes quotes from a subject matter expert about how to address the problem.
- jdlshore 3y ago
  > What am I missing? That not everyone is as solution-oriented as you, and that being solution-oriented isn’t inherently superior.
  - brutusborn 3y ago
    I get that I may think differently, but I still don’t understand why being solution-oriented isn’t superior? What’s the point of reading and writing if not to learn things about the world to help reduce suffering through solutions? I guess you can just read and write for the enjoyment of it, but it seems weird to do so in a case where there is a huge potential to reduce suffering though sharing knowledge.
    - jdlshore 3y ago
      You have a massive blind spot here. As one solution-oriented person to another, please make it a goal to understand and fix this blind spot. It will make you more successful in life, and will make you more effective at implementing your solutions, too. I’m a consultant, and my job is getting people to change their software development processes so they are more effective. In the early days, that included things like “use source control.” Now, my advice is more subtle. Regardless, the job hasn’t changed. You might think that such a job involves showing people an obviously better way, and then helping while they put the idea into practice. I thought so too, at first. Narrator voice: It does not. First and foremost, the job is making an emotional connection with people so they want to change. Convincing them that you’re on their side, that you understand their world, and that you have their best interests at heart. Ultimately, it requires empathy. If you continue to approach problems without empathy, continue to dismiss people who take a people-centric rather than solution-centric view of the world, and continue to devalue the simple pleasures people take from doing things that don’t solve problems… you will be much less effective in life than you otherwise could be.
      - QuantumGood 3y ago
        As teachers for over thirty years, my wife and I have a saying "nothing changes until motivations and behavior change". Motivations don't respond to logic well. Lots of people wonder why they have limited success in areas they have a lot of knowledge and interest Behavior changes are even tougher, usually meaning new behaviors can often only piggyback on existing habits. We think that if we think it, we will do it, but lots of factors slow us down, including misunderstanding procrastination and the far-reaching effects of improving sleep and diet.
- HWR_14 3y ago
  I think it's just as simple as both article types you identified will exist in the paper. People can read both, just A, just B or neither. Making a superarticle that features both is better for those who read both but far worse for those who read just A or just B.