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d-us-vbyesterday at 11:59 PM1 replyview on HN

While I agree with the sentiment for the effect its adherents want to have, but...

Why not just

"Communicate clearly"?

- Don't add fluff

- write as plainly as possible

- write as precisely as is reasonable

- Only make reasonable assumptions about the reader

- Do your best to anticipate ambiguity and proactively disambiguate. (Because your readers may assume that if they don't understand you, what you wrote isn't for them.)

- Don't be selfish or self-centered; pay attention to the other humans because a significant amount of communication happens in nuance no matter how hard we try to minimize it.


Replies

wnoisetoday at 12:15 AM

Because those are far more general than what he is asking for, and what he is asking for will usually not be seen as covered by your generalization.