
The scorpion express - Tomte
http://practicaltypography.com/the-scorpion-express.html
======
captainmuon
Can someone explain the seemingly unrelated, strange title ("The scorpion
express")? Clickbait or a reference I don't get?

The website / book is a really good resource about typography, something worth
supporting IMO.

Edit: The site apparently redirects traffic from hacker news to a call for
donations. Not cool, especially since people think the posted and upvoted
article is this one, and not the intended one.

Mods, @dang, can we maybe replace the link with one through an anonymous
redirector? Or add "(copy/paste link!)" to the title? Or just let people flag
it...

~~~
Tomte
Strange, it didn't do that for me. Maybe because I had visited it earlier,
before I clicked on the HN link again?

------
stronglikedan
When you first click the link above, you'll be redirected to a different link
about how to pay for a book (/graylist.html). You should copy/paste the link
to avoid the referral redirect, and you'll get to the intended story (or come
back here and click it a second time), which is _not at all_ about paying for
a book.

~~~
captainmuon
Seriously? That is underhanded. I would understand an interstitial (even if
they are annoying), but this is really misleading. Looks like the poster
wanted to post the call for donations.

I think hacker news should have a blacklist, where for certain sites they use
an anonymizing redirector, and/or a warning (JWZ's infamous redirection comes
to mind).

~~~
jessaustin
That would be a nice feature for HN. I'm willing to indulge Butterick's
idiosyncrasy (well, in the sense that I'm fine with the copy-paste
rigmarole... I haven't actually purchased any of his books yet) because it's a
creative genuine effort to do something besides obnoxious ad networks.

------
ams6110
I don't understand the reluctance to ask people to pay for something of value.

This honor system stuff won't work.

If you want to sell your book, sell it. If it's worth the price, people will
buy it.

I just paid $25 for a book sight unseen, based only on reviews. I do that
often.

~~~
themodelplumber
In my experience: You basically get instant and sustained traffic and figure
that some fraction of people who visit will pay. The problem is you don't know
what that fraction is, and so you end up guessing based on variables like the
type of community.

------
jessaustin
Author promises to update TFA for 20 years, but apparently things have changed
since September 2016. The "different levels of competence" comment links to a
decidedly emerald caniuse page [0].

[0] [http://caniuse.com/#search=font-feature](http://caniuse.com/#search=font-
feature)

