Hacker News Reader

I remember reading one of those and it made a huge impression on me. I've followed it ever since and taught others to do the same. As far as I can tell, it has only been met with appreciation.

That said, sometimes I find myself trying to write around "simple" when I really mean "less complex", and I have to remind myself that what I really want to avoid is implying "easy", not "relatively less complex".

View on HN

Indeed. I tend to force myself to write the following:

- It will be easy => I will guide you through it

- This will make your life easy => It will make your life easier / It will help you

- To do X, simply do Y => The most common way to get to X is first to do Y

You can use comparatives, like "simpler", usually without issues. Something can be simpler than something else without necessarily being simple. Superlatives like "simplest" can sometimes be used as well. After all, being the simplest thing means to be simpler than all the other things; still not necessarily simple.

It's only the positive form "simple" which is problematic and should be almost always avoided.

This is indeed where I usually go. "Under condition X, it is simpler to Y" rather than "Under condition X, you can simply Y."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com