I agree posts can and should be short, but I think you’re missing some points, such as
When and how to use titles?
Titles should let the reader decide whether to skip-to or skip-over this section.
How to use a TL;DR
My rule of thumb is “the TL;DR should let the person decide if they want to read the rest of the article”, for example:
“I already know this, don’t need to read”
“This is written for someone who isn’t me, don’t need to read”
“This is new and relevant, I’ll read”
Consider setting an example
I am allowing myself to point this out since you are literally writing a post telling people to write shorter posts, so if I may use this as an example:
If I understand correctly, the thing you’re trying to say in this text is “writing shorter is good”, which is something, I think, that everyone already agrees with:
I sometimes come away with the impression that EA forum posts have a low level of reader appeal because, by arguably excessive use of overcaveating, which is as the name implies, and other poor writing techniques, the value density of the forum posts, that is the amount of value divided by the number of words, is very low. Accordingly, reader malaise is maybe increased and this perhaps leads to a loss of reader retention. Even in the retained group, those who read the whole post despite the low-value density, there is perhaps a loss of value due to opportunity cost; that is to say, that time spent reading the post could otherwise have been spent doing something of moral value (I’d argue that this holds true regardless of your ethical framework of choice, be it deontological or utilitarian). The opportunity cost of your verbosity could manifest itself in the form of reduced AI safety research on key problems like solving inner alignment.
I would, at least, use a TL;DR or title so that readers could skip this part if they already agree with it
[said kindly, trying to be helpful and productive with a specific example]
The changes between each section are highlighted in bold, as it is in every section before and after. The bolded section is literally 14 words long; the tl;dr would be longer than the text.
I agree posts can and should be short, but I think you’re missing some points, such as
When and how to use titles?
Titles should let the reader decide whether to skip-to or skip-over this section.
How to use a TL;DR
My rule of thumb is “the TL;DR should let the person decide if they want to read the rest of the article”, for example:
“I already know this, don’t need to read”
“This is written for someone who isn’t me, don’t need to read”
“This is new and relevant, I’ll read”
Consider setting an example
I am allowing myself to point this out since you are literally writing a post telling people to write shorter posts, so if I may use this as an example:
If I understand correctly, the thing you’re trying to say in this text is “writing shorter is good”, which is something, I think, that everyone already agrees with:
I would, at least, use a TL;DR or title so that readers could skip this part if they already agree with it
[said kindly, trying to be helpful and productive with a specific example]
What do you think?
The changes between each section are highlighted in bold, as it is in every section before and after. The bolded section is literally 14 words long; the tl;dr would be longer than the text.