4 ms·

I really dislike the writing style of being so "friendly" for people who don't know anything about the space that you obscure what the topic of the article is a

I really dislike the writing style of being so "friendly" for people who don't know anything about the space that you obscure what the topic of the article is at all. It's a third of the way through the article when "g-2", the problem at hand, is mentioned. Information that should have been shared in the title took a third of the article to figure out.

gloryjulio 3mo ago
Yep. This would backfire spectacularly for people just want to know what's going on. They would just dump the article in the llm and ask, 'what problem is this article about'
wuliwong 3mo ago
You dislike that people write for audiences other than yourself.
- colechristensen 3mo ago
  No. If you're writing an article about a man going to the store to buy a sandwich, the man, the store, and the sandwich should all make appearances by the end of the first paragraph. These people are writing informative articles like novels and it's incredibly irritating and a disservice if you're actually trying to inform anybody about anything. If you're writing an article about the g-2 anomaly, "g-2 anomaly" belongs in the title not 1/3 the way in.
- bawolff 3mo ago
  I dont particularly agree with this article, but there have been quanta articles i've read in the past that went so far trying to make the topic accessible that it became incomprehensible. Where they used so many metaphors and simplifications that it lost all meaning. Science writing for a general audience is really challenging.
- Dylan16807 3mo ago
  Writing for an unfamiliar audience doesn't mean you should hide the name of the problem until after a huge pile of setup.
pmontra 3mo ago
Yeah, Quanta articles are way too long. They could get to the point in one quarter of the length.
jibal 3mo ago
> I really dislike the writing style of being so "friendly" for people who don't know anything about the space that you obscure what the topic of the article is at all. Someone who writes a sentence like that is in no position to comment on writing style.

gloryjulio 3mo ago

Yep. This would backfire spectacularly for people just want to know what's going on. They would just dump the article in the llm and ask, 'what problem is this article about'

wuliwong 3mo ago

You dislike that people write for audiences other than yourself.

colechristensen 3mo ago
No. If you're writing an article about a man going to the store to buy a sandwich, the man, the store, and the sandwich should all make appearances by the end of the first paragraph. These people are writing informative articles like novels and it's incredibly irritating and a disservice if you're actually trying to inform anybody about anything. If you're writing an article about the g-2 anomaly, "g-2 anomaly" belongs in the title not 1/3 the way in.
bawolff 3mo ago
I dont particularly agree with this article, but there have been quanta articles i've read in the past that went so far trying to make the topic accessible that it became incomprehensible. Where they used so many metaphors and simplifications that it lost all meaning. Science writing for a general audience is really challenging.
Dylan16807 3mo ago
Writing for an unfamiliar audience doesn't mean you should hide the name of the problem until after a huge pile of setup.

pmontra 3mo ago

Yeah, Quanta articles are way too long. They could get to the point in one quarter of the length.

jibal 3mo ago

> I really dislike the writing style of being so "friendly" for people who don't know anything about the space that you obscure what the topic of the article is at all. Someone who writes a sentence like that is in no position to comment on writing style.