Comment by supermatt
2 days ago
The 280 char limit seems arbitrary, given you cant even keep the about page within that limit: https://textlog.cc/about
If you are going to limit it to short posts, maybe the length of a short post is the length to limit it to, rather than emulating the 2xSMS of every twitter clone?
Other than that, it looks really clean and neat - I just dont think being 280 chars adds anything other than resulting in people posting with pagination as per X 1/3.
I like the idea of a shorter character limit as it nudges users to a specific mode of interaction: short thoughts/updates and not long-winded soliloquies. It's signalling that interaction with this platform doesn't demand much of your time or attention. I don't know what the about page has to do with it, but you have to draw the line somewhere.
That said, I'm not a social media user besides HN I guess.
For perspective: you just commented 404 chars. Your first paragraph alone was 346.
My comment on the about page was that it needed more than 280 chars to communicate what the app is about - even the title + intro exceeds the limit.
If it is truly believed that 280 chars is enough to communicate an idea, then the about page should follow that philosophy.
I'm considering raising to 500. Care enough to open an issue[0] so that maybe there is a discussion we can track?
[0]: https://github.com/stagas/textlog/issues
2 replies →
It needs to be short - there is already a limit that worked well - why bikeshed it more?
A limit that worked well for who?
Almost every twitter/x post submitted to HN has people labelling their posts as "X of Y" threads, using images as text, or using pro account posts.
You can see it yourself: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=twitter.com Ive just looked at 30 and each of them exceed 280 chars by far.
It works well for microbloggers.
3 replies →
I think this is the opposite of bikeshedding, it's literally a core feature and constraint.
You could fork and do whatever no?
Sure, but I don't care that much. It is a Show HN, so I was giving feedback.