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FWIW, I interpreted more as "This is something I wanted to see happen, and I'm glad to see it happening even if I'm not involved in it."
by shadowgovt 1y ago
FWIW, I interpreted more as "This is something I wanted to see happen, and I'm glad to see it happening even if I'm not involved in it."
- plemer 1y agoCould be either. Nevertheless, while tone is tricky in text, the writer is responsible for relieving ambiguity.
- spongebobstoes 1y agoeliminating ambiguity is impossible. the reader should work to find the strongest interpretation of the writer's words
- coderatlarge 1y agothat’s a lot to expect of readers… good writing needs to give readers every opportunity to find the good in it.
- shadowgovt 1y agoIt is a lot to expect of readers... It's also explicitly asked of us in this forum. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
- plemer 1y agofair point
- coderatlarge 1y agoit’s fine for a forum to try to have different expectations than the local cafe - that’s kind of like a host asking their guests to remove shoes before walking into their home. but it doesn’t really change a priori basic facts about good writing. perhaps this is the appropriate forum to reference pg https://paulgraham.com/writing44.html https://paulgraham.com/writing44.html https://paulgraham.com/essay.htm https://paulgraham.com/essay.htm
- perching_aix 1y agoIt's also natural language though, one can find however much ambiguity in there as they can inject. It hasn't for a single moment come across as pretentious to me for example. Think of all the tiresome Twitter discussions that went like "I like bagels -> oh, so you hate croissants?".
- dekhn 1y agoThat's correct. I can't even really take credit for any of the really nice work, as much as I wish I could!