Similar points apply to adding too many unnecessary links. Specifically links where it isn’t clear where they lead and what point is made in the link target, as in the previous sentence.
This used to be a recurring failure mode of my own writing, which I’ve since partially mitigated. Reflecting on why, I think I wanted to do some combination of
justifying contentious or surprising claims
preventing being pattern-matched to straw versions of ideas / arguments commonly referenced and adjacent in concept-space
finding excuses to share cool reads
making sense of links I’d read by relating them, using publication as a focusing mechanism
I didn’t notice the cost of overdoing it until I saw writers who did it worse, and became horrified at the thought that I was slowly becoming them.
(Gwern links a lot but it doesn’t feel “worse”, on the contrary I enjoy his writing, so “worseness” is as much about adding more value to the reader than the cost of disrupting their flow as it is about volume. His approach is also far more thought-out of course.)
This used to be a recurring failure mode of my own writing, which I’ve since partially mitigated. Reflecting on why, I think I wanted to do some combination of
justifying contentious or surprising claims
preventing being pattern-matched to straw versions of ideas / arguments commonly referenced and adjacent in concept-space
finding excuses to share cool reads
making sense of links I’d read by relating them, using publication as a focusing mechanism
I didn’t notice the cost of overdoing it until I saw writers who did it worse, and became horrified at the thought that I was slowly becoming them.
(Gwern links a lot but it doesn’t feel “worse”, on the contrary I enjoy his writing, so “worseness” is as much about adding more value to the reader than the cost of disrupting their flow as it is about volume. His approach is also far more thought-out of course.)