Painful Read
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| smallboxadmin Dec 15, 2011 12:53 PM EDT |
"I did Live run of Xubuntu from USB stick prepared by Unetbootin. It is very logical that I started installation from the same USB stick too." Why wouldn't you? DarkDuck articles border on the absurd. |
| number6x Dec 15, 2011 1:03 PM EDT |
English is not his first language. |
| r_a_trip Dec 15, 2011 3:06 PM EDT |
Even if one takes the language barrier into account, Dark Duck has a while to go to become an accomplished writer. For now he has the adjective prolific on his side. |
| jdixon Dec 15, 2011 4:06 PM EDT |
> Dark Duck has a while to go to become an accomplished writer. Most writers I've ever talked to will tell you the only way to get better is to write. Of course, you also have to be willing to listen to constructive criticism. |
| Koriel Dec 15, 2011 5:09 PM EDT |
I thought it was an improvement on some of his previous postings so english isn't his first language so what, I understood the gist of his article just fine.
Yes it was a painful read you will get no argument there maybe im just a masochist. I can see he is getting better, and I was one of the first to criticise his stuff as being "lite fluff" as long he continues to better himself then I don't see the problem. If you don't like his stuff fine then don't read it but if you do read it try to provide constructive criticism else you just give linux folks a bad name and scare of others from even bothering. I can understand having a go at someone like Mr. Hess as he is supposed to be somewhat of a professional (the very loose definition) but give some of the amateurs a break will you. |
| DrGeoffrey Dec 15, 2011 6:23 PM EDT |
Professional what? |
| Koriel Dec 15, 2011 6:24 PM EDT |
I did qualify it with loosely :) My word for them is ProTrolls. BTW reminds me to recommend Trollhunter a norwegian subtitled flick to everyone, watch it before they americanize it. |
| DrGeoffrey Dec 15, 2011 6:28 PM EDT |
Ahhhh, perhaps like a 'sanitation engineer' is a professional? |
| Koriel Dec 15, 2011 6:29 PM EDT |
Yeh thats it :) |
| herzeleid Dec 15, 2011 6:37 PM EDT |
You folks are being a little hard on DarkDuck. I work with Russians, and though they are brilliant with computer science and math, their English writing skills are a bit rough. Sheesh, I dare anybody here to write a coherent technical article in Russian, and have it critiqued by Russian geeks. |
| Koriel Dec 15, 2011 6:44 PM EDT |
@herz, well said, I know I couldn't do it. |
| tracyanne Dec 15, 2011 6:46 PM EDT |
@herzeleid... +1 |
| DrGeoffrey Dec 15, 2011 7:42 PM EDT |
Mea culpa. Despite my above negative implication, I've generally found his articles more interesting. This last article however, was a trial. My advice is proof, revise, and resubmit! |
| darkduck Dec 15, 2011 7:58 PM EDT |
DrGeoffrey, do you want to proof? I definitely would like to have an editor who can edit my writeups before I submit them. So far I'm the only person who works on the blog: try OS, get notes, write, revise and publish. Volunteers to help? |
| gus3 Dec 15, 2011 8:37 PM EDT |
Aaaaand another Internet-based collaboration is born! |
| cr Dec 15, 2011 11:07 PM EDT |
Quoting: You folks are being a little hard on DarkDuck. I work with Russians, and though they are brilliant with computer science and math, their English writing skills are a bit rough. Sheesh, I dare anybody here to write a coherent technical article in Russian, and have it critiqued by Russian geeks. English is harder to master than C... big surprise. It became technology's lingua franca because it was first, not because it was best, and brave souls have been posting in it (to uucp, RCPM BBSes, FidoNet, Usenet, etc...) ever since, and sometimes it's kinda obvious but the message gets through. If you browse through http://www.fanfiction.net you're likely to get really depressed about Internet handling of the English language by its native speakers... And then there's 4chan, where some of the new memes are mocking extrapolations of others' lingual difficulties. I can generally pick my way past the modest linguistic lumps in DarkDuck's postings. He's usually not doing stuff that I focus on, so I don't do that overmuch, but I find him tolerably readable when I do. At least he tries. |
| gus3 Dec 15, 2011 11:41 PM EDT |
The ultimate painful read: http://www.rdrop.com/~hutch/argon N.B.: if you click that and your eye sockets bleed, it's your fault for clicking it. |
| BernardSwiss Dec 15, 2011 11:47 PM EDT |
In his *really bad* nightmares, Stephen King dreams that he wrote that... - - - - edit: just to be clear, I'm talking about the work of "Jim Theis", not the work of "DarkDuck" |
| cr Dec 16, 2011 12:40 AM EDT |
Mel Gilden used to mention the Eye Of Argon on Hour 25 back when I was a KPFK listener. I've had that saved to disk for near a decade; I might someday work up the nerve to read it. Nahhhh. |
| tracyanne Dec 16, 2011 12:42 AM EDT |
In his *really bad* nightmares, Stephen King dreams that he can write |
| Grishnakh Dec 16, 2011 12:50 AM EDT |
DarkDuck's articles are fairly entertaining to read at times, because of the Russian accent. Obviously, since they're written, there's no spoken accent, but if you turn on your inner monologue as you read them, the way they're written will force your brain to simulate a thick Russian accent, since he writes exactly the way a Russian with a shaky grasp of English would talk. Edit: I'd like to also add that while I don't read that many of DarkDuck's posts, I'll gladly read any of them before I read any of the tripe that Ken Hess writes. Ken Hess is almost as low as Rob Enderle in my book. |
| BernardSwiss Dec 16, 2011 1:10 AM EDT |
@tracyanneQuoting: In his *really bad* nightmares, Stephen King dreams that he can write Now that's funny! Oh, he can write just fine, and quite well, too. On the other hand, aside from a little attention to styling on the sentence or paragraph levels, he doesn't usually bother. It is also clear that the success -- ie. popularity and sales -- of his various works does not appear to bear much correlation with how well they are written. And his work sells more than well enough that his editors are not going to argue with him about what needs improvement or how to improve it. I suspect he saves his "good writing" for the (relatively few) stories he himself really cares about, and the rest is more to pay the bills. But you're right, that could be even scarier. :-) |
| r_a_trip Dec 16, 2011 4:52 AM EDT |
Negativity is a disease of the current times. There is little to be hopeful about. War, poverty, crisis, greed... You name it, humanity has got it. Let me say this. Practise makes perfect and Dark Duck has the courage to put his stuff out there. With time that is bound to have a positive impact on the writing skills. |
| Koriel Dec 16, 2011 10:34 AM EDT |
@gu3 The Eye of Argon is an absolute classic, have read it many a time, it makes you treasure life, like why in the h#ll did I waste a part of it that I will never get back reading the d@mn thing so many times :) |
| ComputerBob Dec 16, 2011 11:20 AM EDT |
LXer: Linux news and writing-skills lab. |
| Scott_Ruecker Dec 16, 2011 5:25 PM EDT |
We have a lot of people whose native language is not English and yes some are better than others in that regard but I believe in giving people an opportunity to express their thoughts and to get better at their writing.. I think he is doing fine, could it be better of course, but he is doing fine if you ask me. Scott |
| gus3 Dec 16, 2011 7:18 PM EDT |
Scott, are you talking about me all if a sudden? Oh, wait... |
| Scott_Ruecker Dec 16, 2011 8:14 PM EDT |
@gus3: Maybe..;-) |
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