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Comment by readingnews | Hacker News Reader

I think you mean "why is everything online so long-winded". Geez, look up any video on nearly anything simple, they all follow the same format:

  * 10 mins of nonsense and irrelevant background into how great you are
  * 10 mins of setup
  * 10 mins of drama build-up
  * 1 min of the actual event
  * 10 mins of closing comments

Oh, wait, I forgot, it is not about the content, it is all about how long I can get you to watch so I get more nickels. Dang, now I made myself sad...

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I recently had an issue with my water softener. I searched and Google identified some videos and the time stamp in the videos. When I clicked the link, the video started right at the relevant part.

Also applies to self help books. There's 10 pages of content, but people won't pay $40 for 10 pages so you gotta fill it with 190 pages of nonsense and spread the content around to the point of making it useless.

Something something storytelling

Interestingly they provide 180 pages of filler to give a 10 page summary of Buddhism which is itself captured in 57 dense volumes of content. That level of compression gives you an indication of how valuable a self help book will be.

https://archive.org/details/dhatukatha-pts/182706089-Udana-a...

You could argue that a ten-page "summary" of Buddhism is long-winded, and that if you can't convey the essence with a glance, then you're finger-painting.

I would say that a map looks like finger painting when you’re at your destination but when you’re lost it’s the most important treasure.

Like those ten pages of content were useful anyway!

This extends to many academic papers and other expository as well. Repeat the same thing multiple times with a slight twist and use of different terms. So much communication could be more succinctly stated, but the incentives of reader retention, web seo and other marketing techniques, appealing to the lowest mental common denominator, following “good” communication practices, etc. are too strong for most content creators to fight.

Furthermore, the structure of what is considered good writing feeds into this: state your point in the introduction, state your point in the body, and restate your point in the conclusion of the article. Reminds me of television shows that recap what you saw prior to the 2 minute commercial, just in case you forgot what you were watching 2 minutes ago.

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I'd like to shout out Adam Ragusea for having a >2M subscriber cooking channel while not doing any of this.

I like his channel but he's far from perfect. There's a sponsored product in most of his videos

The absolute standard for content goodness (if you're interested in wrestling) is Cary Kolat. Watch any instructional by him. No "like and subscribe", no "hey guys". It's demo, maybe brief explanation, and technical breakdown.

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