I'm upvoting this, and I hate to be cranky asshole guy, but something's been buggin' me and I'm not sure how or where to provide this feedback.
Gwern's articles are, well, deep. There's usually huge wall of text with lots of allusions and footnotes. Looks like a term paper somebody would write for a college course, (only extremely well done, btw)
My problem is that I'm finding it difficult to actually consume the articles. Sure, if I had an extra hour everyday to lounge around studying the intricate details of his self-experiment with LSD, such things might interest me. But the sheer volume and technical facade of the piece works against it. At best it engages my natural inclination to nit-pick. At worst it's just boring. In either case, I'm not left with a greater understanding. Having said that, if it's something I already agree with, it does make me feel like gee, I'm really smart for feeling this way. Here's this well-researched article that agrees with me!
I freely admit to being an outlier, so take my feedback for what it's worth. I am interested, however, that my feelings validate what newspaper editors found out centuries ago: state your conclusion in the lead, then supporting evidence. Write in a pyramid fashion. That way people can review the point at their leisure, then dive down if they feel it's worthwhile. Articles for the general public should not read like mystery novels. Say what you want to say, punch them in the nose. Then make your case and impress them with how smart you are.
Since I'm playing grumpy old guy already, I'll also note that these essays are getting upvoted way quicker than it's possible to actually read the things. I'm not implying a voting ring, more like a bandwagon effect. (Same result, but without all the sinister implications)
They're hard on my attention span too, but I think the style is better than the catchy inverted pyramid of NYTimes and the like. It's a bit more like the Economist in that it builds up arguments, getting "fat" in the middle rather than a bloated digest (or even worse, a hook) at the start. I don't think his goal is to appeal to everyone, and I think that's okay.
> I'll also note that these essays are getting upvoted way quicker than it's possible to actually read the things.
Single data point: I personally upvote stuff from gwern.net pretty much immediately when I see it posted here. I've been to that site many times, read some stuff, skimmed another, and I'm sure enough that this stuff deserves an upvote that I usually upvote it first, and read later.
In the linked article the first paragraph is a summary. The next few paragraphs are a larger summary. The detailed stuff starts after both of these. Just as your third paragraph recommends.
Gwern's articles are, well, deep. There's usually huge wall of text with lots of allusions and footnotes. Looks like a term paper somebody would write for a college course, (only extremely well done, btw)
My problem is that I'm finding it difficult to actually consume the articles. Sure, if I had an extra hour everyday to lounge around studying the intricate details of his self-experiment with LSD, such things might interest me. But the sheer volume and technical facade of the piece works against it. At best it engages my natural inclination to nit-pick. At worst it's just boring. In either case, I'm not left with a greater understanding. Having said that, if it's something I already agree with, it does make me feel like gee, I'm really smart for feeling this way. Here's this well-researched article that agrees with me!
I freely admit to being an outlier, so take my feedback for what it's worth. I am interested, however, that my feelings validate what newspaper editors found out centuries ago: state your conclusion in the lead, then supporting evidence. Write in a pyramid fashion. That way people can review the point at their leisure, then dive down if they feel it's worthwhile. Articles for the general public should not read like mystery novels. Say what you want to say, punch them in the nose. Then make your case and impress them with how smart you are.
Since I'm playing grumpy old guy already, I'll also note that these essays are getting upvoted way quicker than it's possible to actually read the things. I'm not implying a voting ring, more like a bandwagon effect. (Same result, but without all the sinister implications)