Real Python - i am exploiting you

Hey there,

Here's a piece of feedback I received from an (ex-)newsletter member:

"Dan, this conversational style in your emails, with lots of small paragraphs has been used by many others and I am almost sick of it. I am sick of it because it exploits human behaviour."

This made me stop and scratch my head for a minute...

I'm not sure what "Mr X" is saying here.

Writing in a style that's easy for people to consume, and that strikes a connection with them "exploits human behavior"?

To tell you the truth, I never looked at it this way...

But I suppose *technically* it is true—

If you're reading this right now, I'm EXPLOITING the fact that your brain likes to consume information in a way that's easy for it to digest:

That's why I'm keeping my sentences short, and I space them out a little so you can read them comfortably.

I'm TAKING ADVANTAGE of the fact that you're not a robot, and that you like to hear from other *people*:

That's why I avoid big words—and talk to you in a way that a colleague or a friend would—instead of trying to cram a 5,000 word scientific paper into your inbox right now.

But "Mr X" is right:

Wouldn't the world be a much better place if you and I made our writing as difficult to understand as possible? I'm talking 400 word "paragraphs", no punctuation, and passive voice galore...

You see, this kind of thinking is exactly what turns some developers into "code monkeys":

Code monkeys crave recognition, but don't get even a sliver of credit for their work.

No one (except the intern, for a few weeks) takes code monkeys seriously because they can't express themselves in a way other people can relate to.

Code monkeys write a lot of code, but their team mates would rather grab lunch with someone else.

Code monkeys work their butts off...and still never get a raise.

I'm not joking:

Our industry is pretty awesome on the whole, but adopting a (false) elitist mindset is what fucks some people over, time and time again.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Happy Pythoning!

— Dan Bader

P.S. As a courtesy to folks like "Mr X" who feel their humanity exploited by my writing style there's an unsubscribe link in the footer of every email.