3 ms·

> Someone on HN responding to you with single-sentence responses? Either don't respond, or respond in kind. "I have made this longer than usual because I have

by bluGill 5mo ago

> Someone on HN responding to you with single-sentence responses? Either don't respond, or respond in kind. "I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter." - Blaise Pascal. The length of the response doesn't indicate effort.

someguyiguess 5mo ago
Couldn't agree more.
Telaneo 5mo ago
There are obvious exceptions to that rule. Laconic phrases are short but have a lot to them, while AI slop is long while having very little to it. But it's a decent rule of thumb when considering the middle of the bell curve.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
keiferski 5mo ago
This is true if you're writing a letter about a difficult topic. For HN comments, 99.9% of the time, a short comment is a low effort one and should be disregarded.
- mlhpdx 5mo ago
  on the other hand, when I see a long post here I assume it’s yet another ego-driven tirade and skip past it.
  - hliyan 5mo ago
    > yet another ego-driven tirade I tried to recall the last time I saw what I felt was an ego-driven tirade on HN comments, and I'm currently drawing a blank. There's a lot of what's called "performative erudition", and there is the occasional lengthy diatribe, but I would call neither one of those ego-driven tirades.
    - warkdarrior 5mo ago
      "performative" = "ego-driven"
- dijksterhuis 5mo ago
  long, low: copypasta; rant; sales; slop. (brevity, purposeful /s).
- hackable_sand 5mo ago
  A comment should fill exactly the amount of space that it fills, no?
gwd 5mo ago
Sure; I was using shorthand. Sometimes a whole edifice of ideas rests on one shaky one; and if you can challenge that one the whole thing falls apart. But even being able to identify the shaky one demonstrates engagement. That's really the key.
Bootvis 5mo ago
For him, the cost of editing was much larger. Condensing your writing in his time meant rewriting it more concisely, requiring strictly more time than collecting his thoughts as he went. With LLM's, we are in a new state of the world: it can expand any one sentence off hand remark in an essay.
- necovek 5mo ago
  You seem to be talking about how one can expand information into useless babbling, whereas you are responding to a comment about condensing information into true essence.
  - bluGill 5mo ago
    This is about human attention and what is worth getting it. Both points are very important and valid.

by bluGill 5mo ago

someguyiguess 5mo ago

Couldn't agree more.

Telaneo 5mo ago

There are obvious exceptions to that rule. Laconic phrases are short but have a lot to them, while AI slop is long while having very little to it. But it's a decent rule of thumb when considering the middle of the bell curve.

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]

keiferski 5mo ago

This is true if you're writing a letter about a difficult topic. For HN comments, 99.9% of the time, a short comment is a low effort one and should be disregarded.

mlhpdx 5mo ago
on the other hand, when I see a long post here I assume it’s yet another ego-driven tirade and skip past it.
- hliyan 5mo ago
  > yet another ego-driven tirade I tried to recall the last time I saw what I felt was an ego-driven tirade on HN comments, and I'm currently drawing a blank. There's a lot of what's called "performative erudition", and there is the occasional lengthy diatribe, but I would call neither one of those ego-driven tirades.
  - warkdarrior 5mo ago
    "performative" = "ego-driven"
dijksterhuis 5mo ago
long, low: copypasta; rant; sales; slop. (brevity, purposeful /s).
hackable_sand 5mo ago
A comment should fill exactly the amount of space that it fills, no?

gwd 5mo ago

Sure; I was using shorthand. Sometimes a whole edifice of ideas rests on one shaky one; and if you can challenge that one the whole thing falls apart. But even being able to identify the shaky one demonstrates engagement. That's really the key.

Bootvis 5mo ago

For him, the cost of editing was much larger. Condensing your writing in his time meant rewriting it more concisely, requiring strictly more time than collecting his thoughts as he went. With LLM's, we are in a new state of the world: it can expand any one sentence off hand remark in an essay.

necovek 5mo ago
You seem to be talking about how one can expand information into useless babbling, whereas you are responding to a comment about condensing information into true essence.
- bluGill 5mo ago
  This is about human attention and what is worth getting it. Both points are very important and valid.