Incremental note-taking

Couple of points though:

It wasn't clear to me where the notes are actually stored. If I'm relying on your tool to collect my private thoughts, I would require raw access to files. Sure, there is backup & restore features, but I'd still require full content access without going through the client. The info wasn't in any FAQ. It seems to be a SQLite db inside ~/.config/Notesnook/. Ideally the note taking system would have open and documented format so others can build tools to insert and query notes, provide CLI interface, show dated notes on calendar, and so on. I understand this is not necessary the direction you want to take this product.

When importing a .md document, the first line "# heading" was set to be paragraph type with 24pt size instead of Header 1 type, and Header 1 seems to be generally missing from the pull-down menu. Other types of headings were correctly transformed.

As I type in a new heading using the markdown syntax "## subheader" and press Enter, the text is correctly converted to Header 2 type, but Pro version popup is triggered. I would call this a bug. Either don't convert to header, or don't show the nag screen.

The splash screen that advertised the Monograph feature could not be dismissed without pressing "Start publishing" button. Maybe that button should be changed to some less misleading text (it doesn't actually lead to any publishing feature).

I like the business model and I would gladly subscribe at this price. I also love that I can already run it and try everything out without even having an account. The thing is, right now the text formatting buttons are a minefield of PRO-only features. I just dislike when applications include buttons for pro features that open nag screen. If you want to keep the client slightly crippled for free users, you could at least disable (gray out) pro features. It would be much cleaner cut if only syncing service is paid, but I don't know enough about your target users and business model.

In general I would love to be able to restrict formatting UI to just markdown features. I don't want to accidentally change font size or mess with text alignment. All included options for text formatting are just noise to me and I prefer simplicity in note taking.

Just few thoughts from trying it for 20 minutes. I'm still thinking about using it seriously.

This single document also contains my diary / log for daily activities.

Plain text is enough for me.

For note taking app allowing only single title makes a lot of sense.

The note title came from the file name, and my H1 got demoted to Paragraph with larger text. Since md can have any number of H1's, it doesn't seem possible to convert it without loss of information. One option would be to detect if there is only one H1 and use that instead of file name for note title. If there is more than one, then convert all H1 -> H2, all H2 -> H3 and so on.

Because these reviews are distributed (it is a separate algorithm to the one governing core Q/A repetitions) and also interleaved with other material, you are encouraged to operate on portions of texts on each review, giving your brain a chance to consider different successive improvements, such as:

- transformation into smaller portions (which are themselves registered and subject to distributed review),

- introduction of supplementary material (e.g. other articles, multimedia),

- better wording,

- contrasting with other sources,

- personalization.

It beats the single exposure to material and upfront "ankification" (formulation into Q/A cards), in which biases—such as single-perspective bias, or recency bias—are prone to manifest more strongly in the formulation of your material. Furthermore, because the sources of information tend to remain unreviewed after this (i.e. kept off-system), there could also be a tendency to accept their premises or claims without competition from other sources.

Issues I can find with it usually arise from the desire to meet tight deadlines: it is counter-productive to distributed reviews, crystallization of knowledge, and memory consolidation, to rush the process. The SuperMemo implementation also has a vast toolset, which may be hard to grasp in the beginning. This article[1] provides a coherent explanation of the process from a user perspective.

Edit: SuperMemo 15 and above are incremental-reading-enabled; there are freeware downloads and trials should you be inclined to try it[2].

[1]: https://www.masterhowtolearn.com/2019-08-06-supermemos-incre...

[2]: https://super-memory.org/english/down.htm

Roughly the process goes: Import article -> read section (create extract/readpoint (a bookmark of where you were in the article) -> review extracts/articles -> create cloze deletion/card (if necessary).

I can't use any other app for this process because you can't really schedule material like that in Anki/Polar Bookshelf/RemNote. Supermemo is unique in that the material you want to make cards of eventually gets scheduled itself, so you don't have to remember to read something. I would use Polar Bookshelf, but every time I've checked in on it, they haven't added that feature. In Supermemo can import dozens of articles at a time, assign them priorities, and know I'll eventually be shown them to read.

I have a couple thousand articles imported at this point, and I never need to remember to read them. This is the most important feature for me, and why I've continued use Supermemo for so many years rather than switch to Anki or Polar Bookshelf.

Not needing to remember to read something you found interesting, rather than just save it as a bookmark somewhere (every bookmarking app) is a killer feature for me, but apparently is not very useful to other people. I've tried explaining it to several people (including the developer of Polar Bookshelf), and they just don't really care.

The longer I've used Supermemo, the fewer cards I end up making from material (most things aren't really worth memorizing/remembering or even reading once you step away from it for a few days/weeks). But, I still import a lot of articles/comment threads from HN etc I eventually want to read.

Often times I'll create extracts, and not actually make cards of them, because I just like rereading that particular paragraph.

I have tasklists of business/programming/etc ideas, that also get shown during my daily reviews. I can add to them, or generally get reminded that I was thinking about X at some point. Very underrated feature.

If you don't want to see something again, you can dismiss it from the review process so it doesn't show up in your reviews. However, the information is still in your collection, so you can still search for it.

Most people take notes and then never look at them again (this comes up in every note taking thread on HN). Supermemo continuously shows me my notes over days/months/years. It also shows me interesting articles I want to read on a daily basis. It also helps me remember whatever I want. All I have to do is open the app once a day and hit next repetition.