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Sorry, but the font and vaguely bolding are very, very off-putting. Especially when all but the last letter are bolded, or you have a link that includes the space after it, things start feeling wrong, somehow.

What I did read also had a lot of rambling. That's not necessarily a bad thing in general, as it's a valid style and probably easier to get out there than trying to compress and perfect, but I'm not sure it's going to get you much traction on HN.




I don't know if it was very, very off-putting, but I agree that the length of the piece together with the bolding made it harder to engage with the ideas.

If the author is open to advice, mine would be this:

1. Consider your audience

How might an audience of knowledgeable adults read into a piece that visually emphasizes every idea or phrase the author has decided is important?

Might they feel that the piece is condescending to them? It's possible, and that is indeed how I felt reading the piece.

2. You have a lot of tools to emphasize important ideas. Don't use them all.

Throughout the piece there is a lot of bolding, a lot of italics, and several ideas. Where each distinct clause is a sentence. Where each clause modifies the first subject.

Pick one of these. Maybe two. But don't do everything, or the impact is lessened.

3. Edit yourself mercilessly

Honestly, you're already on the way to editing this down - the important parts are bolded. Cut around them and see how much you can actually afford to lose.


I disagree with this as good advice. I think the post is at a point where any more self-editing would be navel-gazing. Instead, I’d advise first posting it to 1-3 editors whom you trust.

“Consider your audience” is good…but also not very actionable until you make your audience specific.


You're welcome to disagree, but what you're saying is pretty subjective. Self-editing is not "navel-gazing" if you do it right.

> but also not very actionable until you make your audience specific

He posted it to HN himself. Do I really need to be more specific?


> Self-editing is not “navel-gazing” if you do it right

True. But beyond a couple rounds of self-editing, it becomes extremely hard to do it right.

> Do I really need to be more specific?

Yep. HN is a whole bunch of people around the world. Look at what PG does before publishing an essay: 3-6 people whom he knows personally review them.


Your standards are too high.




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