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Communication conventions aren't "just" a preference in the sense that they actually lower the friction inherent in any communication. It may be pretty hard to
by inglor_cz 11mo ago
Communication conventions aren't "just" a preference in the sense that they actually lower the friction inherent in any communication. It may be pretty hard to understand other people even if you use the same conventions to write down your thoughts. It becomes harder when the conventions aren't kept: the extra processing necessary has non-zero cost.
Imagine Debian maintainers releasing a slightly incompatible TLS library because of their preferences.
- stavros 11mo agoRight, but if this piece was clearly optimising for something other than efficiency of transmitted information, and that's why it was good.
- inglor_cz 11mo agoI feel that this piece was trying to convey some quite profound emotions, and quite successfully so, but the insistence on non-capitalization was just getting in the way of this main effort.
- stavros 11mo agoI don't know, personally I enjoyed the general aesthetic the choice created.
- inglor_cz 11mo agoYour head might be more efficient than mine in processing text. For me, it felt like a somewhat complicated chore.
- TRiG_Ireland 11mo agoI'm now feeling slightly odd that I read all three posts without even noticing the capitalisation.
- inglor_cz 11mo agoI envy you. For me, it felt like dragging something a bit heavy across an uneven floor. Doable, but unpleasant.
- gritten 11mo agoNo you didn't.
- stavros 11mo agoAw man, really? I thought I did, that sucks.
- machomaster 11mo agoWe don't know what the author tried to optimize. Maybe it was for the number of times the Shift key was pressed. Maybe it was for the author's convenience. What we know is that the author did NOT optimize for: - efficiency of transmitted information - readers' convenience - ease of reading And this is the exact reason why it was so bad.
- ninalanyon 11mo agoDebian maintainers do a lot of things because of their preferences that have caused many people to criticize them. Do you also criticize Shostakovich because he doesn't write in the style of Beethoven? One could argue that a stylistic choice that slows down the reader is good because it forces the reader to pay closer attention. That is the extra processing has not only a cost but, plausibly, also a benefit.
- inglor_cz 11mo ago"Do you also criticize Shostakovich because he doesn't write in the style of Beethoven?" This is a bit more akin to Shostakovich insisting on using some notes that aren't playable on standard-tuned instruments. "it forces the reader to pay closer attention" It definitely forced me to pay closer attention, but not to the actual content of the text, but to the underlying grammatical structure. If the author wanted to bifurcate the reader's attention like this, they succeeded.
- machomaster 11mo agoI would criticize the orchestra trying to play Beethoven, but substituting flute with vuvuzela.