one day I want to write a blog post with tips for writing explanations that respect the reader, like
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one day I want to write a blog post with tips for writing explanations that respect the reader, like
- if something is weird, explain whether there's a good reason it’s weird or not
- spend a lot of time on making examples feel relevant
- if there's something that seems theoretically important but that you've never actually needed, leave it out
- if something is only useful in a very limited set of situations, tell them (or leave it out!)(none of this is easy obviously)
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@b0rk I might add if something is weird (in your expert opinion) explain not just the reason but what makes it weird. It may be (likely is) obvious to you but for many readers what makes it weird may not be obvious at all - and while it may seem basic having an expert explain what is normal and what is weird (across all contexts/fields) is a really powerful way to help anyone new to a topic start to understand it better.
Intuition about what isn’t normal often isn’t well explained
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@b0rk This post explains how to write tips that respect the reader. Tip: take it slowly; it is important, but hard to take in.
