> Then they get downvoted by people who think "TL;DR READ IT" is a masterful blow against everything wrong with Kids Today
How many articles are released every day? The sheer number of words published every minute, all with titles designed to demand attention, is truly staggering.
Assuming that everyone who wants an abstract/tl;dr is lazy is ridiculous (though, as always, not completely inaccurate). Anyone who enjoys staying up-to-date on a broad set of topics can hardly expect to maintain a functional lifestyle without some help in picking which articles and reports get read in-depth.
On a separate note, the bigger problem with Kids Today (imo) is the pursuit of arbitrary social points (karma/upvotes/likes/retweets) when engaging in discussions online. This seems to drive the trend toward low effort memes, jokes and pop culture references which decrease the signal/noise ratio.
I used "downvotes" to represent what they're meant to be used for here: "Is this content HN-worthy?"
I keep an eye on my total karma because I want to know whether I am, on the whole, fitting in around here, and which comments contribute to that the most one way or the other. Speaking truth to power can be useful, or fun, but if you're saying things that aren't being heard, you're just wasting your time and everyone else's screen space.
And some venues want the entertainment. That's signal in their world, and they deserve to have it.
How many articles are released every day? The sheer number of words published every minute, all with titles designed to demand attention, is truly staggering.
Assuming that everyone who wants an abstract/tl;dr is lazy is ridiculous (though, as always, not completely inaccurate). Anyone who enjoys staying up-to-date on a broad set of topics can hardly expect to maintain a functional lifestyle without some help in picking which articles and reports get read in-depth.
On a separate note, the bigger problem with Kids Today (imo) is the pursuit of arbitrary social points (karma/upvotes/likes/retweets) when engaging in discussions online. This seems to drive the trend toward low effort memes, jokes and pop culture references which decrease the signal/noise ratio.