Michael Lynch on anti-patterns in software blog writing
What happened
On 7 October 2026, Simon Willison reported on Michael Lynch's article about anti-patterns in software blog writing. Lynch lists several common problems: long-winded openings, misjudging what readers already know, assuming readers have read older posts, being overly formal, and relying too much on links without explaining terms. He advises that an article should be understandable even if the reader clicks no links, and argues for writing the way you speak. Lynch also notes that as more developers hand their writing to AI, software blogs are becoming uniform, and readers crave writing with a personal style.
Written by AI from the reports · updated 9 d ago
Timeline
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- Simon WillisonAnti-Patterns in Software Blogging
Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging Some excellent writing advice from Michael Lynch. Michael warns against "meandering intros", misjudging your reader's existing knowledge, assuming they'll read your previous posts, and excessive formality. He also warns against overreliance on links as an excuse not to explain terminology. This one hurt!
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