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Not just Google is to blame. In college it wasn't unusual to have minimum length requirements for written work. I once got into an argument with the teacher fo

by Aaargh20318 3y ago

Not just Google is to blame. In college it wasn't unusual to have minimum length requirements for written work. I once got into an argument with the teacher for a psychology elective. I asked her to indicate which oft the expected aspects I did not address, but she said she didn't even read it because "it was too short so it couldn't possibly cover everything". I padded it with a bunch of meaningless fluff, resubmitted it and it was accepted.

einpoklum 3y ago
Really? I've only ever encountered requirements of a _maximum_ length...
- TheFreim 3y ago
  I see that you are from Israel, perhaps there is a different practice as compared to my experience in the United States. All through middleschool, highschool, and college every writing assignment has had a minimum word or page count. Sometimes we had maximum requirements, but oftentimes just a minimum. I was nearly a straight-A student on writing assignments in college. I'd often write well below the minimum requirements by filling out my outline, then I'd add fluff around it to reach the minimum words without actually adding any meaningful content, still scored fine. Truly a profound waste of time.
TheFreim 3y ago
> I padded it with a bunch of meaningless fluff, resubmitted it and it was accepted. Similar story here. In college I got extremely good at adding fluff to reach minimum word counts, I performed well on almost all writing assignments doing this. I would write an outline, fill it out with useful information, and then turn a couple sentences of actual content into multiple paragraphs each.
BrandoElFollito 3y ago
I had an advanced math exam (in physics) and I was at my second page for exercise 1 when the prof wandered around the class. He stopped at me, read a bit, sighted and then said loudly "ladies and gentlemen, I just would like to point out that if your handwriting is not too big, the solution to exercise 1 could fit on one line, max two. Thank you." What a way to fuck up my day :)
latexr 3y ago
On the flip side, a friend’s thesis was under the university’s mandated minimum word count. She struggled with it for a while but decided to not pad it with fluff and instead deliver what she thought was good, ignoring that requirement. The panel at the defence praised her thesis for being short and concise, in direct contrast to her colleagues’ meandering. I don’t think they realised that by lowering (or removing) a single integer on the guidelines, they would improve the lives of students, the faculty, and everyone who will ever read those papers.

einpoklum 3y ago

Really? I've only ever encountered requirements of a _maximum_ length...

TheFreim 3y ago
I see that you are from Israel, perhaps there is a different practice as compared to my experience in the United States. All through middleschool, highschool, and college every writing assignment has had a minimum word or page count. Sometimes we had maximum requirements, but oftentimes just a minimum. I was nearly a straight-A student on writing assignments in college. I'd often write well below the minimum requirements by filling out my outline, then I'd add fluff around it to reach the minimum words without actually adding any meaningful content, still scored fine. Truly a profound waste of time.

TheFreim 3y ago

> I padded it with a bunch of meaningless fluff, resubmitted it and it was accepted. Similar story here. In college I got extremely good at adding fluff to reach minimum word counts, I performed well on almost all writing assignments doing this. I would write an outline, fill it out with useful information, and then turn a couple sentences of actual content into multiple paragraphs each.

BrandoElFollito 3y ago

I had an advanced math exam (in physics) and I was at my second page for exercise 1 when the prof wandered around the class. He stopped at me, read a bit, sighted and then said loudly "ladies and gentlemen, I just would like to point out that if your handwriting is not too big, the solution to exercise 1 could fit on one line, max two. Thank you." What a way to fuck up my day :)

latexr 3y ago

On the flip side, a friend’s thesis was under the university’s mandated minimum word count. She struggled with it for a while but decided to not pad it with fluff and instead deliver what she thought was good, ignoring that requirement. The panel at the defence praised her thesis for being short and concise, in direct contrast to her colleagues’ meandering. I don’t think they realised that by lowering (or removing) a single integer on the guidelines, they would improve the lives of students, the faculty, and everyone who will ever read those papers.