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Comment by jahnu | Hacker News Reader

This is by design and not surprising at all if you read even a tiny bit about PDF. It's in fact the default save method in nearly every PDF capable software. Rewriting the PDF is in fact the less common method. I'm surprised a researcher of PDF would be surprised by that.

However, if you are using a tool like a redaction tool then the software should forbid you from writing in append mode. This was a common error in old PDF apps and perhaps contemporary ones that are new.

Edit for politeness:

My surprise is aimed at the researcher, not you :)

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The person you're replying to didn't do the research themselves. They said as much.

They were just sharing something they were surprised by/interested in. I was surprised to read that's how editing PDFs works too.

Yeah sorry if I'm unclear or misinterpreting. My comment is about the researcher not the person I replied to.

I do agree that it's surprising behaviour to regular users of PDF that it usually maintains a history of sorts. Apps should make this clearer.

The researcher probably wasnt surprised, it looks like the person you replied to was surprised. Perhaps i was surprised that you were surprised? :)

I'm surprised by all these appended suprises revealing a history of surprise :D

Surprisingly, the researcher might also have been surprised the first time they found out.

“You” is ambiguous in English.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/you:

  1. the one or ones being addressed 
  2. ONE sense 2a (which is “being one in particular”)

So, pro tip: in chat-like discussions with strangers such as hacker news, one should prefer saying “one” when using sense 2, even if it sounds a bit archaic (at least to me. Is it?)

Also, when reading a “you” that could be interpreted both ways, do not assume it is used in sense 1.

"One" is very archaic, I always fear it will be confusing for non-native speakers, and sound stuck-up to native speakers, and tend to avoid it.

Where did they say the researcher friend was surprised? Where did they say they were surprised?

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