4 ms·

This type of comment might be a reason why people hate when their posts end up on HN. Keep in mind everything isn't written for HN audience or to optimize skim-

This type of comment might be a reason why people hate when their posts end up on HN. Keep in mind everything isn't written for HN audience or to optimize skim-reading time. In a personal post like this I feel like it's perfectly ok to not include a summary and to start with your backstory to give perspective.

jraph 3y ago
Yeah, it looks like a personal blog post. Feedback is fine but we have to remember that this feedback has likely not been asked for, and we are not entitled to anything. If you don't like the author's writing style, just move on, other people might like the very thing you don't, so… (as someone who has been meaning to write a blog forever - I will definitely like some feedback if it ever actually happens because I will want to improve and please my readers, but I'll probably take ironical feedback somewhat badly. I'll be free to ignore such feedback or silently take what's good in then, but I will appreciate if someone takes some care when sending feedback. Specifically here, "Would it really have hurt to" can easily be phrased as "I would have appreciated")
- master-lincoln 3y ago
  I am entitled to give my feedback to anybody I think. Feedback is not meant as asking somebody to change, it's there to tell how you felt. If the addressed person agrees/disagrees doesn't matter. I believe the world gets better if everybody is allowed to voice their opinion
  - croo 3y ago
    Feedback is best given when asked.
    - master-lincoln 3y ago
      why?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - distcs 3y ago
    > I am entitled to give my feedback to anybody I think. Yes, of course! And others are entitled to ignore your feedback, downvote your comment, or say it to your face that your feedback is unwelcome, or flag your comment as they see fit.
    - master-lincoln 3y ago
      absolutely. And they did. But I don't understand why they chose to do so
  - jraph 3y ago
    Yep, I said feedback is most likely fine. I said it. I also believe in feedback for a better world (when I said you aren't entitled to anything, that was sloppy phrasing for 'the blog author owes you nothing'). But the way you give feedback matters, and you are not entitled to be a jerk when giving feedback. Now, I don't believe OP wanted to be a jerk. I think vanishingly few people actually want to be mean. But I think the world is better off if people take their recipients' feelings in account, because it's nicer. Another perspective: if giving feedback is indeed your intent, surely you care about the recipient and how your message is received (otherwise you would not bother). Your feedback will likely be more effective if well received, so you definitely want it to be well received. So you definitely want to avoid hurting people's feeling as much as possible (of course, sometimes useful feedback will inevitably hurt, but anything beyond this is harmful to your goal). Whether your recipient agrees is an orthogonal concept indeed. I'm totally fine with respectful feedback given to me with which I disagree. It's okay to be wrong. (:-D)
xg15 3y ago
True, but then at least give a meaningful title. Intentionally cryptic titles can be a good artistic choice to make people curious - but then add a summary or be kind enough to solve the riddle in the first few paragraphs. Same with stream-of-consciousness blog posts or articles that start with some barely related story before they get to the point - but then add an informative title. It's just that if both the title and the post refuse to tell what the article is even about, I feel like someone is purposely trying to be obscure. I think HN, the site, also deserves some criticism here: It actively discourages people from adding any kind of context or explanation why they wanted to post a link here, so you end up with a list of just titles with no context and have to guess what the article will be about. But if the poster isn't allowed to add context and the author doesn't want to, where are you supposed to get context from?

jraph 3y ago

Yeah, it looks like a personal blog post. Feedback is fine but we have to remember that this feedback has likely not been asked for, and we are not entitled to anything. If you don't like the author's writing style, just move on, other people might like the very thing you don't, so… (as someone who has been meaning to write a blog forever - I will definitely like some feedback if it ever actually happens because I will want to improve and please my readers, but I'll probably take ironical feedback somewhat badly. I'll be free to ignore such feedback or silently take what's good in then, but I will appreciate if someone takes some care when sending feedback. Specifically here, "Would it really have hurt to" can easily be phrased as "I would have appreciated")

master-lincoln 3y ago
I am entitled to give my feedback to anybody I think. Feedback is not meant as asking somebody to change, it's there to tell how you felt. If the addressed person agrees/disagrees doesn't matter. I believe the world gets better if everybody is allowed to voice their opinion
- croo 3y ago
  Feedback is best given when asked.
  - master-lincoln 3y ago
    why?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- distcs 3y ago
  > I am entitled to give my feedback to anybody I think. Yes, of course! And others are entitled to ignore your feedback, downvote your comment, or say it to your face that your feedback is unwelcome, or flag your comment as they see fit.
  - master-lincoln 3y ago
    absolutely. And they did. But I don't understand why they chose to do so
- jraph 3y ago
  Yep, I said feedback is most likely fine. I said it. I also believe in feedback for a better world (when I said you aren't entitled to anything, that was sloppy phrasing for 'the blog author owes you nothing'). But the way you give feedback matters, and you are not entitled to be a jerk when giving feedback. Now, I don't believe OP wanted to be a jerk. I think vanishingly few people actually want to be mean. But I think the world is better off if people take their recipients' feelings in account, because it's nicer. Another perspective: if giving feedback is indeed your intent, surely you care about the recipient and how your message is received (otherwise you would not bother). Your feedback will likely be more effective if well received, so you definitely want it to be well received. So you definitely want to avoid hurting people's feeling as much as possible (of course, sometimes useful feedback will inevitably hurt, but anything beyond this is harmful to your goal). Whether your recipient agrees is an orthogonal concept indeed. I'm totally fine with respectful feedback given to me with which I disagree. It's okay to be wrong. (:-D)

xg15 3y ago

True, but then at least give a meaningful title. Intentionally cryptic titles can be a good artistic choice to make people curious - but then add a summary or be kind enough to solve the riddle in the first few paragraphs. Same with stream-of-consciousness blog posts or articles that start with some barely related story before they get to the point - but then add an informative title. It's just that if both the title and the post refuse to tell what the article is even about, I feel like someone is purposely trying to be obscure. I think HN, the site, also deserves some criticism here: It actively discourages people from adding any kind of context or explanation why they wanted to post a link here, so you end up with a list of just titles with no context and have to guess what the article will be about. But if the poster isn't allowed to add context and the author doesn't want to, where are you supposed to get context from?