Jeff AtwoodIt is amusing to see the advice on old blogs of "you should read Paul Graham!" well, maybe, until you get to the one piece where.. well.. https://infosec.exchange/@codinghorror/115534277339319858
I still think of that particular, uh, novella as the single biggest self-own by a tech writer I've ever read. Which I still regret reading, by the way. 0/5 stars do not recommend.
mbpaz@codinghorror I did quote Paul Graham quite a few times and did find myself in a w-t-f-have-i-done situation.
In a "this guy Adolf has a nice proposal to build concrete highways and has now published a novel called mein Kam....what????" kind of way.
dr2chase@codinghorror I think it is an instance of a tech guy thinking that of course he knows everything about everything, "now watch me do sociology". And then doubling down, rather than "oops, mea culpa, please ignore all that and never let me write about it again".
@dr2chase what I find most remarkable about this single piece is how it is the literal opposite of everything Paul has ever advised about good writing. Plus it sucks.
Ben from CDS@codinghorror I genuinely thought he was a smart guy, then this showed he was a dumb guy. Then all the stuff with Y-Combinator and Sam Altman showed he was a dumb guy and also gullible.
Maybe he was never as smart as I thought and that's why I never got far with his LISP book, but that is more likely to be because I am also a dumb guy.
@codinghorror In fact since Steve Yegge went off the deep end on vibe coding and vibe writing it really feels like there's only one of the programming bloggers I used to enjoy back in the day who hasn't completely lost the plot, and seems to be doing fascinating and important work, and it's the same one who got me reading Steve McConnell.
@glenatron you like mirrors too? we should hang out
@glenatron p.s. 🤗
Ted Herman@codinghorror My impression is that PaulG specializes in puppies, not lifelong ownership of dogs. Only have puppies - high energy, eager, perhaps foolhardy, but showing promise. Once they grow out of puppyhood, get rid of them.