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Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

marco.org

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Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#41

Post by pg »

I think it's just as well not to allow comments on one's site. If someone wants to say something about something you've written, they can say it on their own blog or on Twitter. When it's something of theirs they're writing on instead of something of yours, they think twice before being jerks: most people won't create a whole blog post just to make a trollish comment, and someone whose Twitter stream is a series of nasty remarks is not going to have a lot of followers, unless he's very witty.

Unfortunately, although I don't have comments on my site, as the moderator of a forum I get them de facto in the comments threads here. It's a uniquely unpleasant situation. In a way it's worse than having comments on my site. On my own site I could delete nasty comments, but here if I do I'll be accused of censorship.

Frankly, I'm stumped. I've occasionally thought of banning paulgraham.com, but people would accuse me of censorship if I did that too.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#42

Post by nir »

%99 of the time, Joel-style posts about programming in general are a boring rehash of ideas already expressed better before (often by Joel himself). Same goes for "10 things every start up should know" etc. They're great for HN karma, poor as reading material.

Blog posts about actual programming, as in "here's how I implemented x" are almost always a great read, and if they are really good they will sustain their value for a long time and reach far beyond the blog's readership as they start appearing in Google searches etc.

It's all about signal vs noise. You may have a great insight, but if Joel/37 Signals/Coding Horror/etc already wrote about it you're just adding more noise.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#43

Post by 100k »

bootload wrote: post #38

"... He has outlasted the relevance of all of them. His first articles would have been frontpaged on whatever came before Slashdot. ..." Not quite true. Slashdot is from about '96 and JOS is from about 1999-2000. Could the real reason be a bit simpler as suggested Joel is running out of new ideas? Is it possible the upcoming IPO might also play part? "... I can’t, which is one of the reasons why I rarely write about…

I enjoyed the article but as a Slashdot reader back before the word "blog" was invented I knew someone would correct this point! :)

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#44

Post by philk »

pg wrote: post #41

I think it's just as well not to allow comments on one's site. If someone wants to say something about something you've written, they can say it on their own blog or on Twitter. When it's something of theirs they're writing on instead of something of yours, they think twice before being jerks: most people won't create a whole blog post just to make a trollish comment, and someone whose Twitter stream is a series of n…

The correct solution is just to ignore them. Sure, they're saying nasty things about you, but no-one's saying anything about them at all.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#45

Post by NathanKP »

pg wrote: post #41

I think it's just as well not to allow comments on one's site. If someone wants to say something about something you've written, they can say it on their own blog or on Twitter. When it's something of theirs they're writing on instead of something of yours, they think twice before being jerks: most people won't create a whole blog post just to make a trollish comment, and someone whose Twitter stream is a series of n…

I have no reason to allow nasty commentors to post on my site. If someone posts relevant, meaningful criticism I leave it. If someone is basically just insulting me or using profanity I delete it. I don't care if people think of it as censorship, because it is my site. Like you said if they want to post something nasty, they can do it on their own blog, and while they are at it they will probably link to me so that I get more visitors and Google PR.

That is my theory on allowing and/or censoring nasty comments.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#46

Post by netcan »

pg wrote: post #41

I think it's just as well not to allow comments on one's site. If someone wants to say something about something you've written, they can say it on their own blog or on Twitter. When it's something of theirs they're writing on instead of something of yours, they think twice before being jerks: most people won't create a whole blog post just to make a trollish comment, and someone whose Twitter stream is a series of n…

Isn't HN the de facto comment area for many sites? I mean, that's what HN (obviously not just HN) is, isn't it? A place to discuss & discover content. Doesn't that solve the troll's problem generally (not just for your site)?

I agree with you to some extent, you are much more likely to get good, interesting responses on something "of theirs," just not sure its solvable.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#47

Post by rapind »

petercooper wrote: post #9
Scriptor wrote: post #3

I'd say it's not worthwhile to write about programming if people already have high expectations for you. Spolsky is definitely well-known and some people probably view him as somewhat full of himself, so they like to pick out anything that might hurt his image. For the average joe schmoe programmer, people don't have such expectations, so there is far less negative reaction. Also, personality does play a huge role. S…

Someone who doesn't seem to aloof and distant from other people will be better off (take _why for example). _why isn't the best example - he was awesome, but part of his appeal was that he was distant and not on the same plane as the rest of us.. just not in a negative way. Nonetheless, before he disappeared he tweeted: programming is rather thankless. u see your works become replaced by superior ones in a year. unab…

What I love about that comment by _why is that in my own experience the code I'm least proud of lives on and on and on... Someone please replace it.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#48

Post by rapind »

gamble wrote: post #21
NathanKP wrote: post #10

I have to agree with the writers estimation of the programming audience. I have noticed a very similar negative trend even among HN users, with comments on my programming themed blog tending to be generally positive with a few negative replies, while comments on HN on the same articles tend to be generally negative with a few positive replies. We programmers probably tend to nitpick a bit more than your average audie…

I think it's just the size of the audience drawn in by a social news site. HN was an uncommonly polite place when it was first launched and largely populated by people with links to YC. I'd guess the vast majority were programmers or tech startup business types at that point. As HN grew, it regressed toward the mean. It still has a more respectful and intelligent community than reddit, for example, but there's a more…

Sure. The presence of consequences. You can apply the same theory to physical community sizes. If you're going to run into the same guy every day, there's motivation to get along.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#49

Post by adriand »

nir wrote: post #42

%99 of the time, Joel-style posts about programming in general are a boring rehash of ideas already expressed better before (often by Joel himself). Same goes for "10 things every start up should know" etc. They're great for HN karma, poor as reading material. Blog posts about actual programming, as in "here's how I implemented x" are almost always a great read, and if they are really good they will sustain their val…

I agree 100%. There's a million posts by people (like Mark Cuban for example) full of the same old boring crap: "maintain good communication", "don't spend money on swag / unnecessary items / etc.", blah blah blah.

If generalized advice actually worked for human beings, the entire human race would probably be a lot better off.

In practice, I find it hard to believe that anyone takes these lists of dos and don'ts and actually turns them into guiding principles for how they run their business.

Re: Why I don't write about programming and why it's not really worthwhile to do so

#50

Post by hernan7 »

NathanKP wrote: post #10

I have to agree with the writers estimation of the programming audience. I have noticed a very similar negative trend even among HN users, with comments on my programming themed blog tending to be generally positive with a few negative replies, while comments on HN on the same articles tend to be generally negative with a few positive replies. We programmers probably tend to nitpick a bit more than your average audie…

I don't know about "average audiences", but some music-related sites that I read now&then have quite a bit of negativity. Not to mention political discussion sites...
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