Writing Skills Importance

This cluster debates the value and difficulty of good writing skills, especially in tech contexts, contrasting it with programming, discussing poor writing's impact on readability and perception, and emphasizing clarity and editing over sloppy presentation.

📉 Falling 0.4x Career & Jobs
4,146
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#3421
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
14
2008
45
2009
108
2010
142
2011
133
2012
167
2013
156
2014
102
2015
104
2016
161
2017
162
2018
196
2019
188
2020
345
2021
315
2022
506
2023
557
2024
293
2025
422
2026
30

Keywords

WRITE MUST DO ANYWAY wired.com writing writer writers good writing write read reads reader important published

Sample Comments

AdamN May 25, 2025 View on HN

Nobody said that. The comment above said that poor writing is indicative of poor thinking (about the subject).

throwaway98797 Jun 24, 2021 View on HN

doesn’t that hurt folks who aren’t great at writing?

jsheard May 6, 2025 View on HN

If it's not worth writing, it's not worth reading.

gnaritas Feb 14, 2011 View on HN

Nowhere did I say or imply that, I simply said there are quite a few people who won't read sloppy writing; that's a simple statement of fact. If you want to be read by the widest audience, then consider the reader rather than what's easiest for you.

gorbachev Feb 21, 2011 View on HN

That's different from good writing skills.

ramraj07 Jun 25, 2022 View on HN

Writing well is a lot harder than programming, but no more or less harder than programming well.

azeotropic May 1, 2018 View on HN

Writing is not the same as publishing.

Aeolun Nov 24, 2022 View on HN

Is it just me, or were people much better at writing these in the past?

zellyn Jun 3, 2016 View on HN

Certain kinds of good writing do. Many kinds do not.

gregjor Dec 30, 2013 View on HN

Good example of why "learn to write" is more important than "learn to code." Medium desperately needs copy editors.