4 ms·

It is not presented as authoritative anything, except perhaps one person's experience. And we should assume it is embellished. You are taking this far too seri

It is not presented as authoritative anything, except perhaps one person's experience. And we should assume it is embellished. You are taking this far too seriously. It is a vignette which captures the flavor of a place at a particular time. And it is delightfully written.

Aurornis 6mo ago
> It is a vignette which captures the flavor of a place at a particular time. That’s my point: It captured a specific party with a small group of friends, but the blog goes on to wax philosophically about how it’s indicative of society and tech as a whole It’s a perfect motte-and-bailey setup where you’re supposed to read it as a big trend indicative of a place and a scene, but the second anyone criticizes the writing it becomes a retreat to arguments that we shouldn’t take it seriously, that’s it’s just a blog, that we should selectively believe it’s embellished however convenient to defuse any criticism.
- tptacek 6mo ago
  I think you're on tilt with this argument now. This is a personal essay. You disagree with some of its implications. That's fine. People disagree with each other. You should just write "I disagree with this", rather than try to critique it as formally bad journalism.
  - Aurornis 6mo ago
    I think you’re too stuck on the word “journalism” in my post, as if reclassifying something as not-journalism means it must not be critiqued. If it helps, s/journalism/writing/g If we’re not allowed to discuss posts in the comments, what are we even supposed to discuss here?
    - stickfigure 6mo ago
      Your critical review of Hunter S Thompson must be a real banger.
      - tptacek 6mo ago
        Hunter S. Thompson was a journalist! It's just a category error to apply critiques of his work to someone's personal essay.
kelnos 6mo ago
I do agree that it was an enjoyable read, but I didn't really like the undertone of "this is what SF is like", regardless of the intent behind it.

Aurornis 6mo ago

> It is a vignette which captures the flavor of a place at a particular time. That’s my point: It captured a specific party with a small group of friends, but the blog goes on to wax philosophically about how it’s indicative of society and tech as a whole It’s a perfect motte-and-bailey setup where you’re supposed to read it as a big trend indicative of a place and a scene, but the second anyone criticizes the writing it becomes a retreat to arguments that we shouldn’t take it seriously, that’s it’s just a blog, that we should selectively believe it’s embellished however convenient to defuse any criticism.

tptacek 6mo ago
I think you're on tilt with this argument now. This is a personal essay. You disagree with some of its implications. That's fine. People disagree with each other. You should just write "I disagree with this", rather than try to critique it as formally bad journalism.
- Aurornis 6mo ago
  I think you’re too stuck on the word “journalism” in my post, as if reclassifying something as not-journalism means it must not be critiqued. If it helps, s/journalism/writing/g If we’re not allowed to discuss posts in the comments, what are we even supposed to discuss here?
  - stickfigure 6mo ago
    Your critical review of Hunter S Thompson must be a real banger.
    - tptacek 6mo ago
      Hunter S. Thompson was a journalist! It's just a category error to apply critiques of his work to someone's personal essay.

kelnos 6mo ago

I do agree that it was an enjoyable read, but I didn't really like the undertone of "this is what SF is like", regardless of the intent behind it.