Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Yes. The argument almost defeats itself: why do you waste my time with irrelevant stuff? Why did you make read a whole page of details before coming to the critical point?

That has been my experience: make your messages as short and straight to the point as possible. Put the most important stuff first and the gory details only the curious will read, last. That goes for documentation too.

HTML mail gives the illusion that fancy formatting can make up for mediocre writing skills. That's sad, because no amount of bold face, color or indentation can fix an inconsistently structured piece.

You learn that stuff at school, make your tuition fees (and/or the time you have been forced to invested in it instead of being young and having fun) worth it.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: