
Present one idea at a time and let others build upon it - icey
http://sivers.org/1idea
======
gfodor
I understand the sentiment, but I think this over-simplifies things a bit.
Often to really appreciate a good idea you need context. Also, often things
that seem like good ideas turn out to be bad ideas given context. 217 pages of
context is probably excessive on average, but really, sometimes it takes years
to appreciate the reason certain things are good ideas or bad ideas.

The idea of context is especially important when presenting your ideas to
smart audiences like HN. The reason? Smart people are generally skeptics, and
will be quick to dismiss ideas unless you preemptively blow holes through the
low hanging counter-arguments that are evident to anyone with some basic
domain knowledge. I've seen this time and time again, where readers naturally
assume their obvious counter-argument wasn't considered by the original poster
-- when it actually was but the poster assumed that _they_ were going to be
assumed to have thought of it :) This usually isn't how it works, and results
in pages of back-and-forth arguments that could have been skipped with some
better context presented up-front.

Edit: The irony on this comment is not lost on me :)

~~~
sivers
I totally agree. Like Einstein's "simple as possible, but not simpler" - it's
a challenge to present an idea so succinctly that people actually read it, but
not too succinctly to where it's not convincing.

Though maybe the counter-arguments are best dealt with separately - being a
separate idea - like the following day saying, "Now let's take the opposite
view."?

Context built gradually instead of trying to do it all at once?

~~~
gfodor
Yeah using footnotes can work, too (PG style.)

------
billswift
My first response to the title, even before I clicked on the link was that it
was probably going to be a restatement of the amateur SF writer's error of
trying to dole out ideas in their stories. Ideas are plentiful, trying to not
put them in stories, apparently because they believe there should be only one
or a few ideas per story is one reason most amateurs have a hard time writing
good science fiction.

On reading the essay, I realized Sivers had an excellent point, but it was a
point about feedback. Presenting one idea at a time makes it easier for
readers to give good feedback, and they are therefore more likely to provide
it.

I wonder if there is any way to combine the two views? To provide more
background and context, with the necessarily larger numbers of ideas being
presented, while still getting useful feedback from readers.

I posted a version of this with links here and to Sivers page on my blog at
[http://williambswift.blogspot.com/2009/11/many-ideas-or-
one-...](http://williambswift.blogspot.com/2009/11/many-ideas-or-one-idea-or-
both.html).

------
sivers
... and of course the comments at Hacker News are always the smartest. I love
you guys. :-)

~~~
jasonlbaptiste
I love having the articles here and the discussions that arise around them!
Usually when I need some sort of inspiration or something to keep me grounded,
I'll check out articles on your site. These tw hit home hard:
<http://sivers.org/hellyeah> and <http://sivers.org/notwork> .

------
kristiandupont
Wow, you are a machine! It's like you are one of those pro-bloggers who are
determined to write something new every day, except your posts contain genuine
insight. Respect!

~~~
sivers
Thanks!

Very conscious decision made 6 months ago, when I realized that writing these
little articles was doing more for me than learning Haskell, going to
conferences, or just about anything else.

I've met more brilliant people because of something I've written than because
of any conference or party I've attended.

So I re-prioritized to make writing 2nd priority (1st is still my new
company), instead of letting them fall to last priority. It means waking up
earlier or staying up later, or saying no to many other things, but it's worth
it.

~~~
wallflower
Can you please elaborate? Just blog comments or Interesting people contacting
you to collaborate because you wrote something that resonated with their
philosophical tuning fork?

