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Comment by seanw444

3 years ago

Do you really have that long of notes that summarizing your handwritten note into a couple sentences max, and serializing it into org-mode is such a travesty?

It really seems like people hate org-mode just to hate it, because they've heard so much praise that there needs to be some sort of counter-culture. Even if it doesn't actually make sense.

People who want to enjoy a synced, always-there corpus of notes are not "hating" Orgmode because it can't do that.

They are noting a serious gap in its capabilities. I say this as a long-term org user, too -- I've tried to mobile tools, and they don't work for me.

Org is great if you live in emacs and have no need or desire to access that corpus of data when you're not sitting at a computer. But in 2023, that's a pretty serious drawback, and pretending it isn't is a weird look.

  • > People who want to enjoy a synced, always-there corpus of notes are not "hating" Orgmode because it can't do that.

    Org-mode files are text files. Anything that can sync text files will happily sync them. Anything that can edit text files can happily edit them. Sure, emacs is the best way to work with org files, but nothing is stopping you from syncing it with whatever you want (I use Nextcloud) and editing it with whatever you want.

    I feel like this is such a key feature of org mode that people are missing. It isn't magic. It's just text, with a buttload of convenience functions that happen to be written in elisp.

    • ...and to which you have no access in a non-emacs environment, which is why "it's text! just sync and open in whatever!" isn't a good mobile answer.

      The inability to fold headings alone is a dealkiller, and enough reason to look for something else. Which is why Obsidian is so interesting to a lot of folks who use orgmode but are not attached to emacs at a religious level.

  • Yeah, I suppose if someone really needs that capability, then Org (at least currently) isn't the markup for them.

    I mostly referring to the "why do people keep bringing it up - it's such a joke" aspect. Well, it's obviously because lots of people find it awesome and more than adequate.

I don't have long notes precisely because I haven't ignored progress and try to use a pocket computer. Also, what's your theory of communication that explains why people casually dismiss serious flaws and switch the discussion to people and culture?