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Comment by Eequei3i | Hacker News Reader

> add a bit of flourish to what might otherwise be a very short article

Brevity would save time and be easier on everyone's scarce attention.

I agree, but that's not what everyone wants. I don't think they necessarily should want it, either. If writing in this style gets more people to read then so much the better - the complaints about it in this thread are, if we're going to be fully self-aware about it, a very tiny and unrepresentative microcosm compared to the total readership in play.

We're not all running around as hyperrational machine gods :). What matters to some people doesn't matter to others, and it's probably very hard to optimize widely disseminated content for accessibility, enjoyability and depth of technical coverage. I might go so far as to say you need to pick two.

The problem every news source uses this format.

Remove the fluff and you might get a single page of 'major' science news per month. Sure it would be a little dry but it would also be something I would want to read.

Exactly, I find myself (unconsciously) skimming the first sentences of each paragraph of these long articles until the actual content starts. It feels like having to sit through the first 5 secs of a YT ad before you can skip it.

All because the writers get paid by the word, i suppose?

> All because the writers get paid by the word, i suppose

I don't suppose that. I'd say it's because writing has more levels to it than a Wikipedia style information dump. Just like software has more elements than just spelling out the desired behavior.

If we're going with software analogy, then articles like this one are journalistic equivalent of Java EE-style bloat, or Electron apps.

Well don't ever pick up an issue of the New Yorker. It'll put you in a coma.

Not everyone's attention is scarce. I think it's a symptom of the digital age. Too much consumption on computers with constant interruptions and instant gratification.

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