Skip to content
By using Twitter’s services you agree to our Cookies Use. We and our partners operate globally and use cookies, including for analytics, personalisation, and ads.
  • Home Home Home, current page.
  • About

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Language: English
    • Bahasa Indonesia
    • Bahasa Melayu
    • Català
    • Čeština
    • Dansk
    • Deutsch
    • English UK
    • Español
    • Filipino
    • Français
    • Hrvatski
    • Italiano
    • Magyar
    • Nederlands
    • Norsk
    • Polski
    • Português
    • Română
    • Slovenčina
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Türkçe
    • Ελληνικά
    • Български език
    • Русский
    • Српски
    • Українська мова
    • עִבְרִית
    • العربية
    • فارسی
    • मराठी
    • हिन्दी
    • বাংলা
    • ગુજરાતી
    • தமிழ்
    • ಕನ್ನಡ
    • ภาษาไทย
    • 한국어
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文
  • Have an account? Log in
    Have an account?
    · Forgot password?

    New to Twitter?
    Sign up
Meaningness's profile
David Chapman
David Chapman
David Chapman
@Meaningness

Tweets

David Chapman

@Meaningness

Better ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—around problems of meaning and meaninglessness; self and society; ethics, purpose, and value.

meaningness.com/about-my-sites
Joined September 2010

Tweets

  • © 2020 Twitter
  • About
  • Help Center
  • Terms
  • Privacy policy
  • Imprint
  • Cookies
  • Ads info
Dismiss
Previous
Next

Go to a person's profile

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @

Promote this Tweet

Block

  • Tweet with a location

    You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

    Your lists

    Create a new list


    Under 100 characters, optional

    Privacy

    Copy link to Tweet

    Embed this Tweet

    Embed this Video

    Add this Tweet to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Add this video to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Hmm, there was a problem reaching the server.

    By embedding Twitter content in your website or app, you are agreeing to the Twitter Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.

    Preview

    Why you're seeing this ad

    Log in to Twitter

    · Forgot password?
    Don't have an account? Sign up »

    Sign up for Twitter

    Not on Twitter? Sign up, tune into the things you care about, and get updates as they happen.

    Sign up
    Have an account? Log in »

    Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:

    Country Code For customers of
    United States 40404 (any)
    Canada 21212 (any)
    United Kingdom 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
    Brazil 40404 Nextel, TIM
    Haiti 40404 Digicel, Voila
    Ireland 51210 Vodafone, O2
    India 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Reliance
    Indonesia 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata
    Italy 4880804 Wind
    3424486444 Vodafone
    » See SMS short codes for other countries

    Confirmation

     

    Welcome home!

    This timeline is where you’ll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

    Tweets not working for you?

    Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

    Say a lot with a little

    When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart — it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

    Spread the word

    The fastest way to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

    Join the conversation

    Add your thoughts about any Tweet with a Reply. Find a topic you’re passionate about, and jump right in.

    Learn the latest

    Get instant insight into what people are talking about now.

    Get more of what you love

    Follow more accounts to get instant updates about topics you care about.

    Find what's happening

    See the latest conversations about any topic instantly.

    Never miss a Moment

    Catch up instantly on the best stories happening as they unfold.

    1. michael_nielsen‏ @michael_nielsen Feb 19
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      michael_nielsen Retweeted Patrick McKenzie

      Similarly, people greatly overestimate the benefits of brevity in writing, especially on the web. When an essay is riveting, people want more, not less. Tolkien's criticism of his own "The Lord of the Rings" was apt: "the book is too short".https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1230309034248392705 …

      michael_nielsen added,

      Patrick McKenzie @patio11
      See this thread for some tactical suggestions, but an underrated strategic suggestion which sounds trite but is really, really, really important: Write emails such that people reading them should think "I certainly want to read more email from this person." https://twitter.com/IndieHackers/status/1230275375009320965 …
      Show this thread
      9 replies 18 retweets 179 likes
      Show this thread
    2. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 19
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @michael_nielsen

      I see it as an issue of managing & exposing the length. Some readers want to go as deep as you can take them, but others are frustrated if you block them from moving on. I deal with it by use of collapsible sections+abstracts, margin notes, and explicit topics in list items.

      3 replies 0 retweets 36 likes
    3. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 19
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @gwern @michael_nielsen

      It's more aggressive in using the overall hierarchical tree structure of each page in showing/hiding: the reader can read (in increasing depth) page abstract, then by headers, then skim margin notes+item summaries, then read body text, then uncollapse regions to read those too.

      2 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
    4. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 19
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @gwern @michael_nielsen

      I don't know how well it all works, but I seem to see fewer complaints about my pages being unreadably long, anyway. ‾\_(ツ)_/‾

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
    5. michael_nielsen‏ @michael_nielsen Feb 19
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @gwern

      You're another writer who I'd happily read at 2x the length. And for your particular style, I think your navigation signposting works well - I do sometimes skim e.g., long lists of mostly references.

      1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
    6. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 19
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @michael_nielsen

      Yeah. The link annotations have also been helpful in taming *perceived* length: before, I wanted too much to include all the abstracts/interesting excerpts, but even with floating footnotes, they were very in the reader's face. With the popups, they give reader control of depth.

      1 reply 0 retweets 15 likes
    7. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 20
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @gwern @michael_nielsen

      For lack of a better term, I'm calling this approach "structural reading" (like "structural editors") - instead of forcing all readers to read at a fixed depth, providing either too little or too much, make the structure visible & controllable so they can adjust depth easily.

      2 replies 0 retweets 15 likes
      David Chapman‏ @Meaningness Feb 20
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @gwern @michael_nielsen

      This is very cool! I seem to recall Dream Machines suggested a physical lever you could pull up or down to get more/less detail continuously. That’s probably difficult and overkill but the general principle seems importantly right

      2:03 PM - 20 Feb 2020
      • 9 Likes
      • s e a n ~ m o m b o yoshiki Rafael Nikete Jason Crawford Abeoma nice #wearafuckingmask Maxim Leyzerovich Jeff C
      2 replies 0 retweets 9 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @Meaningness @michael_nielsen

          I'm not surprised. Folding/structural editing/'orthodox editors' were widespread in the early Engelbart/Lisp/hypertext ecosystems, and it's very obvious to apply that to docs as much as code. One could add a scrollbar to go through the levels I describe. All HTML, after all.

          2 replies 0 retweets 7 likes
        3. 𝔊𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔫‏ @gwern Feb 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @gwern @Meaningness @michael_nielsen

          (This scrollbar wouldn't necessarily be too useful for me, unfortunately, because most of the structure has been added only relatively recently, and it's a lot of work to retrofit collapsed sections/margin notes/list highlights/link-annotations onto pre-September-2019 stuff.)

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        4. 11 more replies
        1. New conversation
        2. Andrew Kirby‏ @ajkirby01 Feb 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @Meaningness @gwern @michael_nielsen

          I find I can read much better with folding lists. I mean MUCH better. It’s worth the time of copying an essay into that format for the benefit in comprehension and ease of reading.

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. Andrew Kirby‏ @ajkirby01 Feb 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @ajkirby01 @Meaningness and

          I like that I can isolate only the bit I’m reading at that moment, and in making those levels I naturally understand the structure better. Also I find paragraphs too long- generally split them multiple times into individual thoughts

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        4. End of conversation

      Loading seems to be taking a while.

      Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

        Promoted Tweet

        false

        • © 2020 Twitter
        • About
        • Help Center
        • Terms
        • Privacy policy
        • Imprint
        • Cookies
        • Ads info