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What is this blog and why is it getting popular? The articles are very long and dense with no clear point. "In some respects, there is nothing to be said; in o

by yOutely 13y ago

What is this blog and why is it getting popular? The articles are very long and dense with no clear point. "In some respects, there is nothing to be said; in other respects, there is much to be said" Please edit your blog posts to remove phrases like this which damage reading comprehension. Your opening sentence "Mathematical error has been rarely examined except as a possibility and motivating reason for research into formal methods" is long winded, vague, boring, and tells me nothing about what this post is about. I think you can write much shorter, clearer articles that are not dense, rambling and inaccessible if you put some time into organization and structure and read your blog critically from a layman's perspective.

JamesArgo 13y ago
That quote makes sense enough in context.
gbog 13y ago
You know, sometime some thought do actually require sentences with more than five words, and some people might actually appreciate rich and flourishing vocabularies. See Proust. There is a limit, were the author is hiding emptiness and sterility behind artificial obscurity and complexity, but I'd say this article is far from that.
- adrianN 13y ago
  Yes, some arguments require complicated reasoning. However, even in such cases the author still is responsible for keeping the reader's interest. For this it is for example helpful to start with an introduction to the topic and end with a summary. Writing is also better if it doesn't contain phrases that add little to nothing to the content.
SkyMarshal 13y ago
Pro-tip: HN articles are about 90% noise, 10% signal. Gwern.net is among the latter. > and read your blog critically from a layman's perspective. Average everyday "laymen" who get brain tired after the first paragraph are almost certainly not the intended audience. I think he's writing to people who will read and think and digest and understand, who enjoy being challenged, and who probably have some background or context on the subject.
gwern 13y ago
> I think you can write much shorter, clearer articles that are not dense, rambling and inaccessible if you put some time into organization and structure and read your blog critically from a layman's perspective. I think you know that is very difficult for anyone to do. What has been learned cannot be completely forgotten, and after long enough you no longer remember even vaguely what "a layman's perspective" looks like. This is why writers need copyeditors and beta readers, but unfortunately I have neither.

by yOutely 13y ago

JamesArgo 13y ago

That quote makes sense enough in context.

gbog 13y ago

You know, sometime some thought do actually require sentences with more than five words, and some people might actually appreciate rich and flourishing vocabularies. See Proust. There is a limit, were the author is hiding emptiness and sterility behind artificial obscurity and complexity, but I'd say this article is far from that.

adrianN 13y ago
Yes, some arguments require complicated reasoning. However, even in such cases the author still is responsible for keeping the reader's interest. For this it is for example helpful to start with an introduction to the topic and end with a summary. Writing is also better if it doesn't contain phrases that add little to nothing to the content.

SkyMarshal 13y ago

Pro-tip: HN articles are about 90% noise, 10% signal. Gwern.net is among the latter. > and read your blog critically from a layman's perspective. Average everyday "laymen" who get brain tired after the first paragraph are almost certainly not the intended audience. I think he's writing to people who will read and think and digest and understand, who enjoy being challenged, and who probably have some background or context on the subject.

gwern 13y ago

> I think you can write much shorter, clearer articles that are not dense, rambling and inaccessible if you put some time into organization and structure and read your blog critically from a layman's perspective. I think you know that is very difficult for anyone to do. What has been learned cannot be completely forgotten, and after long enough you no longer remember even vaguely what "a layman's perspective" looks like. This is why writers need copyeditors and beta readers, but unfortunately I have neither.