[chias]

Oh, I don't know. On the one hand, part of me agrees with you.

On the other hand, when someone tells me that they've optimized a compiler and it can now compile 3% faster I get really excited and pull their repo, I don't turn around and say "you mean 97% as slow" and keep complaining about how long compilation takes and how nothing can be done about it. Show that there are steps you can take to cut it by 33% more than we currently know how and you'll be a god among programmers.

[sn41]

I agree with your basic point - but doesn't "3% faster" usually mean that it runs faster in all cases? So the "97% as slow" does not seem to be clear. Maybe it should be said as the improvement is not significant enough according to some numerical threshold?

[benmanns]

I think it's closer to "I boosted conversion rates on our sign up page by 33%."

Sure, not every visitor signs up still, but some group of people found the new copy compelling enough to sign up - with no new, very expensive feature development.