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Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

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Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#131

Post by frevd »

jarek wrote: post #70
mkr-hn wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think words like "proper" are what throw a lot of people. It brings up images of a grumpy English teacher. But natural language is like a programming language. If you start tossing brackets and semicolons all over the place, it won't compile, and it won't make much sense. Things like grammar and spelling are the syntax of natural language, and failing to make sure you're close to the norm is a good way to throw an…

The root comment compiled perfectly. The grammar was understandable and the logic reasonably sound. The only deviations from the gold standard of natural English are: 1) "lol"; 2) ";]"; 3) lack of capitalization on some words. That is much closer to whitespace conventions than tossing brackets and semicolons all over the place.

To all of you - I'm used to capitalization (very much since I'm German and we capitalize every Noun), much less though do I know what to capitalize in English (I got so much angry comment in my phase of capitalizing everything i deemed important that I completely converted to an all-lower-case style).

I also know everything about punctuation, having taken two typing courses and one in standardized letter writing.

Despite all that, since I'm using CamelCase a lot and my shift keys have suffered from that so much that I have to press them forcedly, I try to limit their use whereever possible (this location just opted out of it ;).

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#132

Post by profitbaron »

I've started using HN on an increasing basis recently, having been lurking for a while having, eventually got round to joining and starting to participate in the discussions.

Although, I do have to agree that there is a great amount of information on here, especially in the Ask HN type threads.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#133

Post by stcredzero »

geoffw8 wrote: post #37
SamReidHughes wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. In your comment history, other posts have it worse, and your writing style and mannerisms make…

> You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. That is the biggest pile of bs I have ever read. Just because he starts his posts with a lol,…

That is the biggest pile of bs I have ever read. Just because he starts his posts with a lol, and a smiley mean NOTHING. It angers and disgusts me to think that 17 other people happen to agree with you.

The whole structure of the original comment looks like a troll to me. (Get a rise out of us stick-in-the-mud HN with lol.) However, your reaction seems to be better designed to incense anger than to point out structural problems in the discussion or overlooked value in the original comment.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#134

Post by tomrod »

mcantor wrote: post #84
geoffw8 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with all of your points, except one - when I'm doing something of leisure, i.e. commenting on hacker news, I actually don't think about my grammar or spelling and nor will I begin to. As far as I'm concerned, people pulling people up on their spelling and grammar is a step to far. Edit: Spelling and grammer excellence isn't in the guidelines http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I don't think anybody at Hacker News really begrudges your leisurely writing practices. However, it seems like you feel entitled to have your opinions treated equally despite the fact that you are presenting them differently. This is probably why many of your comments are getting downvoted. I am sure that you and posters such as frevd are cool, intelligent dudes; but most members of the HN community value conventiona…

I disagree, politely, that most HN readers find no issues with writing style. I base this on a subsample of one and extrapolate. wink wink

Seriously though, HN isn't Reddit or Digg. I feel a little class and care can reasonably be expected from the informed commentator.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#135

Post by glenjamin »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #14
frevd wrote: post #6

lol - you're not alone ;]. see, i'm here for 800 days now but stopped commenting on most of the threads long ago when I realized that my views are somewhat diametrically different and would not be accepted easily by those so more wise and better connected than my dumb self. they installed a nice feedback mechanism that effectively limits my input - whenever I post something I must fear ridiculous downvoting by those…

You'd have better success if you showed some respect for your readers by capitalizing and writing your posts in a normal style. Starting off with "lol" and an emoticon marks you as somebody who hasn't thought about what he is about to write, and who doesn't care to present his thoughts to the reader in an organized manner. In your comment history, other posts have it worse, and your writing style and mannerisms make…

It seems to me that this argument boils down to whether a comment on HN is more akin to conversation (ie. somewhat less formal), or information.

My personal opinion is that with the rise of globalisation and non-native English's prevalence on the internet, any use of language that is understandable and unambiguous is good enough for discourse.

Re: Ask HN: How Many of You Are Like Me?

#136

Post by khafra »

kraggp wrote: post #79
SamReidHughes wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just because he starts his posts with a lol, and a smiley mean NOTHING. Actually it means a lot. When you read, your neurons get tingled. How this happens is affected by writing style. Not everybody has the time or energy to be a hyperrationalist information absorber that processes data into the same thing irrespective of the order and manner it arrives. edit: I think you've misinterpreted my post if you think I sa…

The pseudo-intellectualism that permeates this board is a little appalling. I can certainly assure you that C-level executives across Silicon Valley backed by the strongest VCs and beyond write in a much less formal manner than most people on HN. Nothing wrong with that.

I suggest a study program in social signaling, but I'll summarize the relevant part:

People of unknown status must provide a signal that their status is appropriate enough to warrant respect and attention: if you're taking your Valentine's date to a Michelin 3-star restaurant, you wear your best clothes.

People of known high status have the capability of signaling their status in a seemingly perverse way: by countersignaling. When a movie star shows up to a Michelin 3-star restaurant, he wears jeans and a faded t-shirt to show that he's high-status enough to break convention there.

tl;dr: C-level execs backed by the strongest VCs have earned the right to write informally and still be taken seriously. Most of us have not.

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