Comment: Re:Yet Another Pointless Dot-Com (Score -1, Redundant) 2008-07-07 09:03
Attached to: Boiling Down Books, Algorithmically
This is just another pointless project that's going to waste the time and skull-sweat of a good but unrealistic programmer. All he's going to have when he's done is the solution to a problem that doesn't, for all practical purposes, exist. Good writers won't need it because they know what to do and how to do it, so they won't use it. It will only be used by poor writers, who won't know how to put the suggestions into effect properly. It may, possibly, tell a writer where their book needs work, or where it's not interesting enough, but I doubt it. Most likely, all it will do is tell it where it's not like other successful books because it won't be able to recognize or take into account any originality. Even if its recommendations are right, a poor writer is highly unlikely to profit from them, because by definition a poor writer won't know which suggestions are good or the skills to take advantage of them properly. No, what a poor writer who wants to get better needs is either a good critique group or some friends who will act as beta-readers, telling him not only what doesn't work but why (Something, I might add, that I find it hard to believe this program could ever do.) and discuss things with the author until they understand each other. Mechanical criticism of literature can only result in mechanical literature, not good writing.
Wow. You entirely missed the point of Aaron's work, and complained that something he is not doing is a bad idea.

