Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Stopped “Creating Content”

refactoringenglish.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 249 posts

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#51

Post by golly_ned »

keiferski wrote: post #18

I actually really like the term content creator , because it removes the artificial boundaries that come with being a writer, photographer, filmmaker, etc. and just lets you make stuff. The medium doesn't matter if you're a content creator, to a large extent. The alternative is "art" but that comes with a lot of other baggage that often sounds unintentionally pretentious, especially if you aren't actually creating pa…

I agree. It's a generic word since it has a generic meaning.

I know there's a big bias against 'business speak' among engineers. But a lot of the time, it's just a matter of abstracting in a domain engineers typically don't work in. It's useful to describe from the 'business' point-of-view since terms like this can be used to analyze the similarities across these similar 'content creation' type businesses.

I'm trying to think of a similar case where to an outsider, the 'tech speak' jargon a software engineer would use seems useless to an outsider. Maybe things like 'framework', or 'deployment', or 'library', or web application instead of web site.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#52

Post by duggan »

glial wrote: post #33

I appreciate this push-back. I keep a running list of words like this...content, product, device, experience, space, vehicle, resource, etc. I can't put my finger on why, but all of these make me distrust the speaker.

For me it's when companies talk about themselves as brands.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#53

Post by ErroneousBosh »

mtlynch wrote: post #47
ohyoutravel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s AI slop, that’s why.

OP here. I wrote the post myself with no AI (modulo grammar checks). What makes you think it's AI-generated?

I keep getting people saying they think my posts are AI-generated because I use hyphens in sentences (not M-dashes though, I can never remember the compose key for it), and because I use the term "load bearing" in a pisstakey way - like for instance, "yet another instance of load-bearing idiocy by management".

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#54

Post by bombcar »

EPWN3D wrote: post #38
glial wrote: post #33

I appreciate this push-back. I keep a running list of words like this...content, product, device, experience, space, vehicle, resource, etc. I can't put my finger on why, but all of these make me distrust the speaker.

Yeah I have a similar list. Mine also includes "journey". As soon as a word gets adopted by MBAs to abstract away the real world, it gets added to my list. They're words that project the idea of a smart person but only to stupid people.

Mine is "thought leader" - I've yet to meet someone who calls themselves that who's had a useful thought.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#55

Post by golly_ned »

sgarland wrote: post #12

This resonates with me. I’ve always found the term annoying, because it felt like it was distilling artistic expression down to its most abstract form: content. If all you’re producing is abstract “content,” why should I participate? What makes it special?

I see that abstraction as the purpose of the word when viewing it from a 'business' context: when assessing businesses of the same kind, the actual thing that's being produced matters a lot less.

I'd suppose that blog writers and video producers have a lot of the same kinds of business problems: how people can discover [the thing they create] and spread awareness of it or make money off it.

In order to be able to discuss this category of business, it's useful for writers and video producers to be able to relate to each other by abstracting out the thing that actually makes them distinct and particular.

I see it less as devaluing that special thing and more as a lens to put on or take off when certain audiences are interested in the 'non-special' aspects of running businesses based on that special thing.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#56

Post by zazuke »

Great article, I see it is very similar. To me it's about learning, not "producing" — as Jason Fried said [1]:

> I've never created content, I've written things down. > I've never created content, I've said things out loud. > I've never created content, I've recorded a video. > I've never created content, I've shown someone around. > I've never created content, I've pointed something out.

[1] https://x.com/jasonfried/status/1831763756856307880

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#57

Post by mtlynch »

arjie wrote: post #46
mtlynch wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. Thanks for reading! I'm having trouble understanding where we disagree. It seems like you're arguing that she's correct because it was helpful for the mutual acquaintance to refer me to this vendor, which I agree it is. My point is that the term "lead" implies that she's thinking about making the sale rather than serving me as her client. Do we disagree about the connotation of the word "lead?" As a more ext…

Is your sentence supposed to be analogous? The difference between a great lead and a bad lead in that context would be sending a patient with a skin lesion to a dermatologist (great lead - “someone who will be happy with what I can do”) vs sending a patient with a brain tumor to a dermatologist (bad lead - “I can’t help this person”). In this context, a “great lead” is someone who has been appropriately prequalified…

I think we disagree on the connotation of the word "lead."

To me, if someone describes me as a "lead," it implies that they are focused on making the sale rather than on anything else about the business relationship. I would also find it unsettling if a doctor told me that I was a "good lead" because I had a disease they treat.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#58

Post by golly_ned »

hyperpape wrote: post #32

Different people should use different words. I don't think a content creator would naturally describe themselves as a content creator. The word is useful for contexts where you need to generalize over all the different types, but that's not useful when speaking about yourself. So a writer says "I'm a writer", not "I'm a content creator." But writing this paragraph, I needed a word to generalize. P.S. The closest alte…

I agree, and the audience also matters too. A writer speaking to writers at a writing workshop? "I'm a writer." A writer at an independent business conference? "I'm a content creator", as a means to relate to people making videos, blog posts, photographs, tweets, etc.

Some 'content creators' might also do: videos, blog posts, photographs, tweets, and a lot of other activity that drives the same business: getting user 'engagement' for sponsorship or advertising revenue.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#59

Post by danielciocirlan »

You “create content” if what you’re after is just money, and “content” is this malleable goo you have to produce and shove it down the algorithm so that it gets “traffic”, another form of goo that gets “funneled” and “converted” into money.

In other words, it loses all (human) meaning.

So yes, if you care at all, you shouldn’t “create content”. You should be writing essays, recording tutorials, training, music, conversations, etc. the kind of things you care about, for an audience whose attention you don’t take for granted, hoping that they too will care at least a little. If they do, they will pay you because they will rather part with money than part with your work.

Re: I Stopped “Creating Content”

#60

Post by tayo42 »

duggan wrote: post #52
glial wrote: post #33

I appreciate this push-back. I keep a running list of words like this...content, product, device, experience, space, vehicle, resource, etc. I can't put my finger on why, but all of these make me distrust the speaker.

For me it's when companies talk about themselves as brands.

What else would you call smaller companies and products within a company?
Post reply on HN