Can I just say this is an abuse of Twitter.
Seriously, if you want to use more that 140 characters, use something else.
Seriously, if you want to use more that 140 characters, use something else.
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artmarketwatch/warhol-...
Nobody is required to use a given medium in a way that others find "proper" just because they annoy some people. I personally enjoy the stream-of-consciousness feel of this style of self-referential twitter threads for certain types of storytelling or reporting.
Like it or not, folks, presentation is just as important as the content being presented in most cases. If the presentation style is so distracting as to cause threads (like this one) focusing on presentation rather than content, then one should probably strive to fix that problem instead of sitting on one's haunches complaining about the flood of criticism.
In my book, therefore, presentation criticism is fair game, and I'm with the parent commenter on this. If you don't want to be criticized for using inappropriate presentation methods, then don't use inappropriate presentation methods. A more conventional blog post would have been far more appropriate for this sort of thing.
Twitter is a pretty awful format to .. essentially write a whole article. Gotta agree with GP...
> A reader emailed to complain about how this and other HN discussions often become derailed by off-topic carping about blog design. I agree completely. Could there be a more classic form of bikeshedding? It would seem parodic if it weren't sadly real. This has become more of a thing on HN lately. It needs to become less of a thing.
> I don't mean to pick on you personally, or just on this one comment. (Your second sentence alone, by the way, would have been a helpful contribution.) The problem is the tedious stampedes such comments spawn.
But it's boring and tedious when the first comments to a detailed technical post are about the blog platform or the font. It's off-putting for people writing those articles and as dang says above it's off-putting for some readers.
But I do feel that the medium is an important part of the message, and that the whole point of these threads are to share one's personal opinions and give feedback.
I spoke up because I do unfollow people who use twitter like this and it makes me sad because I would otherwise be interested in what they have to say.
That's very true, but I downvote those comments also. I wish we could stick to discussing the content.