Comment by dkjaudyeqooe

I understand what papers are and I accept that they naturally end up being how they are.

Even if you study textbooks, which themselves suffer the same fate, requiring other textbooks or knowledge of terms and notation as prerequisites, and have knowledge in the field it doesn't mean you can understand most papers. Fields and subfields have their own (obscure) terminology and notation, often individual practitioners do. Even if they don't terminology and notation isn't used consistently, which becomes critical when you're trying to learn and understand.

I'm just lamenting how inscrutable this knowledge is and how sad and frustrating that is. Most of this stuff is not that complicated once you know what they're actually talking about. Instead you end up banging your head against the wall for hours trying to divine the intent of the author or go on endless yak shaving expeditions trying to nail down terms and concepts.