Suppose there were a wiki platform that did this (had a max character limit on wiki pages). Would you use it?
Probably not, but I see why you would ask—it’s a reasonable test for the claim I’m making.
On a computer, I’ve preferred outlining-type tools to wiki-type tools by a lot, although combining the advantages of both seems like a good idea. Part of the reason is that outlining tools reward you for splitting things up (by allowing you to fold up tree structures to see as much relevant stuff as possible at a given time, and make structured comments on things, etc). Wikis punish you for splitting things up (you can’t see things anymore when you click away from them, you have to open multiple tabs or such).
I also think a character-count limit is not as good as a limited-size sheet of paper. Character count feels inflexible. Small sheets of paper, on the other hand, allow you to write smaller if you really want to fit more, squeeze stuff in margins, and so on. (I’m not sure why that’s good—it could be that I’m merely more familiar with paper and so feel less awkward about it.)
As I mentioned elsewhere, I also suspect that now that I’ve seen how nice it is to be forced to make concepts really atomic, I could transfer the skill to a format with less stringent limitations. But I’ve also seen that I easily “back-slide” when writing on larger paper, so, this may not really be the case.
Probably not, but I see why you would ask—it’s a reasonable test for the claim I’m making.
On a computer, I’ve preferred outlining-type tools to wiki-type tools by a lot, although combining the advantages of both seems like a good idea. Part of the reason is that outlining tools reward you for splitting things up (by allowing you to fold up tree structures to see as much relevant stuff as possible at a given time, and make structured comments on things, etc). Wikis punish you for splitting things up (you can’t see things anymore when you click away from them, you have to open multiple tabs or such).
I also think a character-count limit is not as good as a limited-size sheet of paper. Character count feels inflexible. Small sheets of paper, on the other hand, allow you to write smaller if you really want to fit more, squeeze stuff in margins, and so on. (I’m not sure why that’s good—it could be that I’m merely more familiar with paper and so feel less awkward about it.)
As I mentioned elsewhere, I also suspect that now that I’ve seen how nice it is to be forced to make concepts really atomic, I could transfer the skill to a format with less stringent limitations. But I’ve also seen that I easily “back-slide” when writing on larger paper, so, this may not really be the case.
I also agree with Raemon’s response.