Comment by wat10000
1 month ago
Basic decency and respect is either ignoring it or putting in the three seconds of effort it takes to understand it, instead of complaining to someone who isn't even attempting to talk to you.
Are you the sort of person who goes up to people in public and asks what they're talking about? Because that's what you're doing. Except you aren't even asking, you're just saying "if you're going to talk in public then you need to explain your topic so everyone can understand it."
Your time isn't being wasted. It doesn't take any more time to think "I don't know what this is talking about, oh well" than it does to think "this mentions England and Wales, I guess it's about some local issue there." Unless you're so self-centered that the very idea of a web site's purpose not being immediately comprehensible to you personally is such an affront that you have to put in time to complain about it.
This is just about elementary communication skills.
You're arguing that obfuscation is somehow a good thing. How does that make any sense?
When people communicate clearly, it makes the world a better place. People understand each other more easily. They don't have to waste as much time figuring things out. It's the golden rule, treating others the way you'd like to be treated.
If you don't understand that, I genuinely don't know what to tell you.
All communication requires some context.
You're on a web site with a vague title and a bunch of random links, and zero explanation on the front page for what it's all about. Do you also complain about that?
This is not obfuscation, this is aiming at a particular audience that you aren't a part of. This web site doesn't need an introduction so that people browsing from Kazakhstan can understand what it's about, any more than a calculus lecture needs to start with basic arithmetic to cover attendees with no math background.
You're doing the internet equivalent of yelling at people to speak English when they're having a conversation in another language. It's as uncouth here as it is there.
> All communication requires some context.
Right! Which is why you should give that context when you create something for public consumption. Get it now?
> You're on a web site with a vague title and a bunch of random links, and zero explanation on the front page for what it's all about. Do you also complain about that?
Yes actually. HN has a terrible design for new visitors. Why would I defend that? HN is known for a lot of things, but its design is not one of them.
> You're doing the internet equivalent of yelling at people to speak English when they're having a conversation in another language. It's as uncouth here as it is there.
No, I'm doing the internet equivalent of criticizing where someone is giving a public lecture but refuses to give it a sufficiently meaningful title so people know whether or not they want to attend it.
This is a public website meant for public consumption. Not some private communication I'm trying to butt into.
You seem to be trying to defend some kind of gatekeeping-through-obscurity, where new potentially interested visitors ought to be made confused and have to "work" to figure things out. Why would anyone do that intentionally, or defend that? It's just rude and thoughtless.
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