Some of the most gripping literature I've ever encountered - thank you :-).
But seriously, why be dismissive (perhaps too strong a word - but mildly derisive at least) of such a wide swath of human culture that many admittedly find interesting to make a point that has nothing to with literature or writing style for that matter?
The grandfather post was whining about the length of the article. It's a completely specious complaint, made with fatuous disdain. Supposing that the grandfather post had read much of works pre-Hemingway, they would have realized that their callous dismissal of "tl;dr" was tremendously ignorant when compared to, e.g., War and Peace, Three Musketeers, or some of Sir Walter Scott's lesser-known works. In other words, primelens, I was preferring to be dismissive and deprecative of the grandfather's twitter-length reading abilities.
edit: Of course, coming out of Victorian works and then reading modern works feels like a breath air of simplicity and prose without a hint of purple... perhaps to the detriment of the moderns.
It's a completely specious complaint, made with fatuous disdain.
Hi, I wrote that post. I'd appreciate it if you didn't attribute factors like "fatuous disdain" and "twitter-length reading abilities" to me.
My point was not that long passages of writing are a bad thing in every context, ever. That you've extracted that from what I said speaks more about you than it does me. Pretty much every length of prose is appropriate somewhere. My point was that this length of text was not warranted for this story. The extra passages do not add to the story, they detract from it.
"World famous, highly regarded literature of the 1800s was long, therefore no passage of text can ever be too long" seems like a spectacularly self-defeating argument to me.
As a general rule replying to people who insult you is a status lowering move unless your response lowers their status. Do not engage with the enemy, it suggests you care, and if you don't care you can't lose.
Internet points are indeed worthless. Understanding that reacting to insults is usually a losing move socially and then failing to modify your behaviour is not just a losing move, it is a decision to lose. This is more true in real life than on the internet where it is much safer to read an attack on your ideas or positions as a direct personal attack.
But seriously, why be dismissive (perhaps too strong a word - but mildly derisive at least) of such a wide swath of human culture that many admittedly find interesting to make a point that has nothing to with literature or writing style for that matter?