I'm not going to ask you to stop writing.�� I think its difficult to get the balance right,��
and I think you are improving every time. But there are some points to consider...

On 18 November 2017 at 11:55, horrido <horrido.hobbies@gmail.com> wrote:
I appreciate all the feedback, even the negative comments. Let me address
some of them...

First of all, you need to understand that this article, like nearly all of
my other articles, is about /marketing/. I've never made any bones about
this.

If you know anything about marketing, you know that it involves exaggeration
and hyperbole. It sometimes involves bending the truth. The point of
marketing is to persuade on an emotional level, not a logical one.

This is exactly what companies like Apple and Microsoft do. If you think
Apple ads tell the absolute truth, then you are terribly naive.

That is Apple and Microsoft talking about *themselves* to the present the image *they* want.
But you discuss the work of other people, which impacts their self-image,
and it behooves you to consider that impact on them.

��

So, is Pharo being used to fight Ebola? Not exactly, but who cares? I'm
trying to change people's perception. I'm trying to *move* them. If I have
to exaggerate, I will do so.

Case in point.

��

Has everybody heard of Smalltalk? Of course not. And it doesn't matter. I'm
taking /literary licence/. As a writer and a marketer, I am allowed to do
this.

It could be easy for your audience to mistake that you represent Pharo.
So the people whose work you write about can feel impacted by any exaggeration you use.

A strategy could be to distinguish yourself as an enthusiastic user��
rather than a core developer, which would likely improve the authenticity for both parties.

Consider that in a world where we a constantly marketed to,
the sensitivity of your audience to Signals & Noise in your message...

��

Second, the article hasn't been published yet that pleases everybody. I
accept that some people may not like what I've written, and that's perfectly
fine.

What's not perfectly fine is if the majority of readers are turned off by my
article. I do not believe this is the case. I have published literally
hundreds of Smalltalk articles over the past three years, most of them on
Medium, and I've tracked responses and viewership. As far as I can tell,
these articles have been generally well-received. I have something of a fan
base!

Something else that I've been told: marketing to programmers will not work
because they are too smart for that. What a load of bullcrap! Programmers
are human beings, and all human beings are susceptible to marketing. My
Smalltalk campaign over the past three years have proven that it works.

So why should I stop?

Third,...

> You will not convince people to use Pharo by spitting on everything else.

What am I spitting on? I claim that the way everybody has been doing
programming, ie, with file-based languages, has not been ideal for
productivity. That's not insulting. That's just the truth.

Isn't that why we use Pharo (Smalltalk)? For productivity reasons?

General statements about functionality are not so problematic.����
Its more when being specific about "Pharo is better than languages X and Y"��
which may create a barrier to for people that love X or Y from listening to your message.

HTH
cheers -ben