Oxidizing the Technical Interview

No I'm not, but I did reference it.

It seems you're trying to emulate one of Linus's classic rants with that comment, but if you wouldn't mind a bit of constructive feedback:

* The word selection in your comment isn't quite right. Linus has been known to use expletives others deem inappropriate when reviewing another human being's work - but since that's what you seem to be going for, you might as well commit to the bit.

* The big difference between your comment and Linus's rants is that he's doing it when giving feedback that other people actually requested, rather than going off at some random person on the internet.

* It seems your Linus impression is also a bit out-of-date, as he has publicly apologized for being a jerk in 2018. Maybe you were going for "vintage Linus", but it just didn't cut it for me.

Although you've nailed the attitude there, I fear the real problem in your comment writing is that it's not backed by a solid knowledge of what you're writing about. For example, it seems you wrote 80% of your comment before reading the entire article? This may be a throwback to other classic comments I'm missing - but if I missed it, then others will too, so it seems the onus is on you there.

Now that I'm done reading your whole comment, I must say I wasn't very surprised, but also not very impressed. I've read better comments than this one before, and I couldn't really tell what you were trying to achieve with it.

Next time try adding a table of contents, maybe some primary sources, or consider not attempting that kind of comment at all, if you're not confident you can pull it off? Just my two cents!

It reminds me of the interviews I used to do at c. 18 -- at first, the framework must be defined, and then the solution to the problem.

The framework comes ab initio, because i'd spend my teenage years hysterically refining versions upon versions of them.

I might well do the same thing now. It's a seductive display of sheer hubris.

> It seems you're trying to emulate one of Linus's classic rants with that comment

If I were, I'd probably be courteous enough to link to it as the original author did.

> Linus has been known to use expletives others deem inappropriate when reviewing another human being's work - but since that's what you seem to be going for, you might as well commit to the bit.

I don't swear online :)

> The big difference between your comment and Linus's rants is that he's doing it when giving feedback that other people actually requested, rather than going off at some random person on the internet.

Sadly, I tend to do this far too often, and my goal is that it is not characterized as "going off at" people. I'm working on it.

> It seems your Linus impression is also a bit out-of-date, as he has publicly apologized for being a jerk in 2018.

See above. My audience is much smaller than Linus's, so it's likely that you may not have seen my apology for being a jerk in 2018.

> Although you've nailed the attitude there, I fear the real problem in your comment writing is that it's not backed by a solid knowledge of what you're writing about.

Actually, I happen to have already read the linked material, so I think I have a fairly decent background in Aphyr's writing.

> For example, it seems you wrote 80% of your comment before reading the entire article?

That is correct. You'll notice that I commented on the article's style early for reasons I explained in the comment itself: I didn't need to finish it to provide that feedback, and the thing I referenced itself gave me reason to pause reading. I withheld technical feedback until I finished.

> I've read better comments than this one before

I should hope so!

> I couldn't really tell what you were trying to achieve with it.

Provide constructive feedback to the author.

> consider not attempting that kind of comment at all, if you're not confident you can pull it off

Thanks, but I personally prefer to not shut down people who are trying to improve their writing.

I think the author made it very clear what they were aiming for, so I fail to see the issue in providing multiple, actionable pieces of feedback that I had when reading it on how they could meet their goal better and consider for next time. Unless your specific complaint is that I didn't include anything specifically positive, to which I can only point to the many other comments that said they enjoyed Aphyr's style and were glad that there was more work being done to emulate it which I didn't care to rehash in my response.

Personally, if someone consumed something I worked on, actively felt that there was something they felt could be improved, and didn't mention it to me, I would have felt as if they had done me a great disservice. I don't have to agree or even take their input into account, but I would very much like it to exist.