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Get People Upset

CJ Chilvers
CJ Chilvers

Merlin Mann (in the latest episode of Roderick on the Line [Episode 116, at the 25:25 mark]):

“It’s very difficult to efficiently say anything interesting and new and honest without a lot of people getting upset.
People read that as arrogant.
What do you do to not get that reaction from people? You say something uninteresting. You say something that’s not new. And you say something that’s dishonest. You say something that everybody can agree with because they already think that.

Why bother? That’s just asking for compliments. That’s not making anything.”

The word most people would skip over is "efficiently." Brevity takes courage. It's better for the reader, but that makes it better for trolls as well.