Strangely, that's entirely the opposite of what I understood from the original comment. To me, "you can just use XXX" sounds like someone just told me that "all you need is XXX; don't worry it's simple". The assumption is that the HN'er saying it and the HN'er being said to share an implicit level of expertise since we are all talking about mutt here.
That's exactly how I meant it, FWIW.
Fair point. It does probably make sense to just strip the words out in this case as well.
I do want to point out that I didn't use those words fully consciously and I most certainly did not mean to imply the reader was ignorant. The only thing those words were signalling is that the action in question does not take much effort (once you know it).
Re:Mutt email client 25 years old
by Cyykratahk on Sunday August 16, 2020 @10:03AM
(#24177853)
To add to what you are saying, here is a short article highlighting which words should be avoided: https://css-tricks.com/words-avoid-educational-writing/
> The argument GP was making is that what is obvious to one reader may not be obvious to another.
Regardless of the argument, it's not obvious to anyone unless they've taken the time to read the documentation and possibly read through some examples. While there are those who may feel that it's simple and/or obvious after they have gained that knowledge, it shouldn't relieve anyone of the responsibility to read documentation and figure these things out for any tool that they use.
The argument GP was making is that what is obvious to one reader may not be obvious to another. So using the words “simply” or “just” or “obviously” does not add information, except to signal that you feel the reader is ignorant if they are not aware of what you’re explaining.
My PhD advisor always crossed these words out of my scientific writing, and I think it was a good change to make.