Preface

Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, it’s been almost two years since I started this site. Along the way, I went from maintaining it on and off at the beginning, to now wanting to write and share something whenever I have anything on my mind.

The motivation behind that shift was seeing the UV keep going up, and also getting emails pretty often with suggestions and encouragement from friends. Honestly, it feels pretty good—kind of proud, even—because it feels like I’m able to help some people. What I write isn’t anything super advanced; after all, I don’t know that much myself, and I’m still learning. I’m really just recording my learning process and sharing it with everyone. But lately, I’ve been getting more and more criticism. So I’m writing this post specifically to tell you: I’ve received all of it, and I do have my own thoughts—or I’m actively trying to adjust.

Criticism

Too wordy

I accept everyone’s criticism with an open mind. People say my writing is a bit too wordy. To be honest, when I read my own stuff, it feels pretty clear—but I was just getting started, and I hadn’t found my style yet. Sometimes it might be messy and not very logical.

But what I’m trying to do is write in a way that’s as easy to understand as possible, taking into account people at different stages. My original motivation for writing was that most bloggers seem to assume you already have the basics, or they default to the idea that readers “just know” a lot of things—so readers end up taking a lot of detours.

This is a tiny bit of self-defense, but I know the bigger reason is still my lack of ability. I also hope that the more I write, the better I’ll get at expressing myself—so I can explain things clearly without being wordy, while still sticking to my original intention.

Lots of mistakes

As for the mistakes in my posts—there’s no arguing that. My fault, my fault. Because of limitations in how I understood things back then, I may have written something wrong and misled people, and I’m truly sorry.

I’m also constantly improving. After I finish each post, I keep reviewing it, and whenever I gain new understanding, I update and add supplements. What I can guarantee is the effort I put into every post: I try to write in detail, and I absolutely won’t just copy things around.

My blog is basically my notebook. I revisit it often. (Quietly~) Of course, I also like it when you come by and take a look from time to time…….

Are you qualified?

I used to always think I should wait until I became “better,” knew more, and turned into what people call a “guru,” and only then start outputting. Until I read a book called Show Your Work (highly recommended).

There’s a line in it that roughly means: “You don’t need to be a top expert or a guru to be qualified to share knowledge. Beginners can help beginners too.” Because if you’re a beginner, you’re often more able to help other beginners than the gurus are. The pitfalls you’ve stepped into, what to watch out for, how to understand a part when you don’t fully get the surrounding context—these might be easier for beginners to relate to than the “gurus” who assume you already know all of that. A beginner sharing knowledge in a beginner’s way may actually make it easier for other beginners to understand. This also makes me reflect a lot on how to share, how to write more plainly, and how to express things in a way that matches my own understanding.

This reminds me of what Tang Jiafeng (a well-known teacher for graduate entrance exam math) said: in the field of publishing math books, there’s a kind of pathology—gurus are all chasing how to make their books look “high-end” and more professional. What does “high-end” mean? It means students can’t understand it. Someone takes a look and goes, “Damn, I know every single word, but put together I can’t understand it—great book, great book.”

But in reality, how do students define a good book? I think books like Teacher Tang’s are good books: accessible without losing professionalism, lowering the entry cost and the pain of learning. Everyone hopes they can swim in the ocean of learning instead of suffering through it. The ultimate goal, of course, is to truly learn and understand.

Afterword

I’m actually happy about everyone’s criticism. Of course it’s not because I’m shameless… it’s because I feel needed. You want me to become better, and that kind of no-strings-attached push means a lot to me—I’m genuinely happy. It also pushes me to take things more seriously, ღ( ´･ᴗ･` )比心

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