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Comment by 0xEF | Hacker News Reader

I don't like it anymore than you do,

Which is why my blog is a "writing exercise," as you put it. I believe people can be more engaged with their media, but it is admittedly easier to go for the slogan-style messaging nobody has to think too hard about. I dream of a world where everyone has valuable, well-considered input and I will continue to write as though I live in that world until we get there.

Asking someone who wants to practice the art of writing to do otherwise is no different than asking a painter to just make stick figures.

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GP comment says that more often than not the blogger isn't an artist. I'd like to add that not only blog-sellers can benefit from the advice above: if someone is drawing an instruction manual, making an expressionist painting is counterproductive to the totally valid goal of conveying information as clearly as possible and in the most digestible manner. Stick to the stick figures if that's your goal.

And if you write primarily for the sake of writing, I don't think anyone is telling _you_ to change your approach in a way that doesn't fit _your_ goals. The advice are for others.

You're missing the point I'm trying to make and that's probably on me because I didn't explain it very clearly.

You wrote

> So yes, your advice is great if you want to sell a blog. It's terrible if you actually want to write.

The advice has nothing to do with selling a blog—whatever that means—and more to do with communication. Writing, especially on the web, is more often than not a communication tool and not an exercise in rhetoric.

And the point of communication is to, well, communicate. Using complex language doesn't take you closer to that goal. If you write 4000 words when 200 can be used to convey the same message and the result is that fewer people end up reading what you wrote then your communication is not effective.

Now, if what you want is to write as an artistic expression then by all means write 4000 words or even 40000. That's totally fine and nobody is stopping you from doing that obviously.

> Using complex language doesn't take you closer to that goal.

Complex language should not be used for its own sake, but it is often the most succinct and clearest way to express your points.

Communicating half of an idea to 1000 people can be worth less than exactly communicating an idea to 2 people.

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