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On responding with public docs

Time to write: 22m

I’ve been trying to push in that direction for a while, but it’s been a slow process. Pusing this further is also experimental.

On using docs

Pros:

Allows for editing

Makes it easier to just read the edits instead of having to resend the full text with the edit

Provides more structure / foundation

Allows for commenting on specific points

Allows to use media, titles, formatting, etc.

Easier for myself to revisit / retrieve / build on / reuse

One notable use case where I would prefer receiving information in a doc is when someone sends me multiple messages on an intellectual idea they’re developing. It would be easier for me to just be able to see it all at once, use the commenting feature, and see edits as they are being made / seeing the latest version at any given point. However, I often don’t suggest that as I’m afraid the social aspect of “chatting” is a motivating factor for them to write down their ideas, and so the real alternative option might not be writing a doc, but rather not writing at all.

On being public

Pros:

Writing information I want public / am okay with being public vs information I don’t by default avoids having to disentangle that information in the future, or having to rewrite it from scratch, when I want to share that information with others

Cons:

It feels/is less intimate

On being generic

Note: generic-ness and public-ness are orthogonal property, although they tend to be correlated.

Pros:

Disentangling information that’s more customized vs information that’s more generic makes it more modular, and so easier to reuse / build on the generic blocks independently.

Cons:

It feels/is less personal

It is less customized

It’s less time-costly, and spending time, even when otherwise not useful, is still a signal of care

It’s easy to reuse, and so is less special

Something else I can’t put my finger on? Or maybe it’s just an internalization of the above

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Best of both worlds, might be doing both?

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