I'm not going to ask you to stop writing. I think its difficult to get the balance right, and I think you are improving every time. But there are some points to consider...
On 18 November 2017 at 11:55, horrido <horrido.hobb...@gmail.com> wrote: > I appreciate all the feedback, even the negative comments. Let me address > some of them... > > First of all, you need to understand that this article, like nearly all of > my other articles, is about /marketing/. I've never made any bones about > this. > > If you know anything about marketing, you know that it involves > exaggeration > and hyperbole. It sometimes involves bending the truth. The point of > marketing is to persuade on an emotional level, not a logical one. > > This is exactly what companies like Apple and Microsoft do. If you think > Apple ads tell the absolute truth, then you are terribly naive. > That is Apple and Microsoft talking about *themselves* to the present the image *they* want. But you discuss the work of other people, which impacts their self-image, and it behooves you to consider that impact on them. > > So, is Pharo being used to fight Ebola? Not exactly, but who cares? I'm > trying to change people's perception. I'm trying to *move* them. If I have > to exaggerate, I will do so. > Case in point. > > Has everybody heard of Smalltalk? Of course not. And it doesn't matter. I'm > taking /literary licence/. As a writer and a marketer, I am allowed to do > this. > It could be easy for your audience to mistake that you represent Pharo. So the people whose work you write about can feel impacted by any exaggeration you use. A strategy could be to distinguish yourself as an enthusiastic user rather than a core developer, which would likely improve the authenticity for both parties. Consider that in a world where we a constantly marketed to, the sensitivity of your audience to Signals & Noise in your message... http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/homesteading/ar01s11.html > > Second, the article hasn't been published yet that pleases everybody. I > accept that some people may not like what I've written, and that's > perfectly > fine. > > What's not perfectly fine is if the majority of readers are turned off by > my > article. I do not believe this is the case. I have published literally > hundreds of Smalltalk articles over the past three years, most of them on > Medium, and I've tracked responses and viewership. As far as I can tell, > these articles have been generally well-received. I have something of a fan > base! > > Something else that I've been told: marketing to programmers will not work > because they are too smart for that. What a load of bullcrap! Programmers > are human beings, and all human beings are susceptible to marketing. My > Smalltalk campaign over the past three years have proven that it works. > > So why should I stop? > > Third,... > > > You will not convince people to use Pharo by spitting on everything else. > > What am I spitting on? I claim that the way everybody has been doing > programming, ie, with file-based languages, has not been ideal for > productivity. That's not insulting. That's just the truth. > > Isn't that why we use Pharo (Smalltalk)? For productivity reasons? > General statements about functionality are not so problematic. Its more when being specific about "Pharo is better than languages X and Y" which may create a barrier to for people that love X or Y from listening to your message. HTH cheers -ben
