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atucker comments on [SEQ RERUN] The Martial Art of Rationality - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: Unnamed 19 April 2011 07:41PM

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Comment author: atucker 21 April 2011 02:57:05AM *  1 point [-]

Hmm, interesting question.

You weren't too bad, you did a lot to explain the game mechanics to people who didn't click through and read the link, even when said explanation didn't directly contribute to the point you were trying to make.

Being concise is difficult in that you're trying to efficiently explain something, while also not leaving out important details necessary for you to be understood (i.e. keeping the inferential distance short).

Knowing what the audience knows often helps in terms of what can be left out.

What I generally do is write something, then revise it to make it shorter, which typically involves:

  • trimming out unneeded grammatical constructions (like "you did a lot towards the goal of" -> "you")

  • rearranging syntax to make the statement more clear (in general, the subject of the sentence should come first, as well as the inferentially closer parts of the statement)

  • general futzing about with the words until you think they're arranged better

Knowing a specific term for something also makes it easier to express without needing to reexplain all of it every time you use it.