Comment by codingdave
10 months ago
I like the idea of having different options for content creation, but I don't understand why "micro-blogging" is still a thing. It originated in message length limitations of texting back when texting was a new thing. Why inject an outdated constraint into a new tool?
It's the same reason I still like sports: humans operating within constraints produce interesting outcomes.
It's why film photography is still popular. The constraints create unique ideas.
Agreed! I have enjoyed how the constraints will prod me to refine and distill an initial thought into more crisp phrasing.
Do you know why Formula 1 is called Formula 1? The formula refers to a specific set of constraints to which all of the participants must adhere.
The cars could be totally different; more tech, features, etc. The whole sport and culture is defined around the system of shared constraints.
For the same reason that some of the things I say to people are single sentences while others are multiple full paragraphs.
Because ain't nobody gonna read a 20000 word manifest
Can verify, I'm somewhere on the hypergraphic spectrum and one of the reasons I like computers in general and LLMs in particular is that they're literally forced to read what I write.
Kinda. The large context windows that recent LLMs have tends to imply that their attention to your input is selective. They're just humoring you really.
Yep. You can link to manifest in your tweet.
Because these days morons make a 10 minute video to explain something that could probably fit into 180 chars. Everyone is all "ME ME ME! LOOK AT ME!" and 180 chars doesn't really let you make it all about yourself. So it's enjoyable to read. It's the same reason Twitter started to suck a big one once threads and unrolling and all that bollox became common place.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1eTSL2kopP4&si=6g5MeMOmKoM...
Well I dreamed there was an island, that rose up from the sea.
And everyone on the island was somebody from T.V.
And there was a beautiful view, but nobody could see
'Cuz everybody on the island was screaming,
"Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!"
The same reason why people posting stories instead of actual posts. Or you really don’t want to write masterpiece everyday.
You can write a 180 characters post\tweet\toot even when there is virtually no limitation.
I think this is what was asked by a parent commenter: why enforce any limit (except for a sane ones) at all?
IMO it makes for better content. I'm not logging in to a microblogging app so I can read thoughtful, longform content, actually it's exactly the opposite.
By enforcing a character limit you only allow a certain type of post to be made
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> why enforce any limit (except for a sane ones) at all
Some say Shakespeare was his (their?) best when he was limited to the fixed form of the sonnet.
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Not sure, but stories, threads, etc seem to be a rather top down/dark pattern thats shoved down our throats one doom scroll at a time
People today don't read, they skim. If the text is too long, they won't even do that. Nevertheless, I'm surprised text hasn't completely died in favor of TikTok style videos, butaybe we are still on our way to that.
> I'm surprised text hasn't completely died in favor of TikTok style videos
You gave the answer yourself - TikTok style videos, short as they are, aren't as easy to skim through as microblogging sites.
Not quite, I think. Bite sized videos provide the illusion of promise that one won't miss any information, whereas I would think that promise isn't there when skimming over text.
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The medium is the message. Presumably the creators felt that it is such a fundamental part of the medium they want to recreate that they keep the constraint.
<3
Something like 2-5 rows at some reasonable width (40? 80?) could be nice for a sort of live feed to put over to the side in a terminal maybe.
that's a really cool thought, thank you!