[CodeMage]

Just to be civilized, here's an explanation of why I downvoted you: I go to HN to find interesting stuff to read and discuss. I don't like this new trend of posting the "TLDR version" (and I have a special loathing for those who request it). It annoys me to have people try to chew my food-for-thought for me.

[wccrawford]

You do realize that his posting the TLDR doesn't prevent you from reading the article and having your own opinion, right?

Many people do like summaries and I don't think anyone should be penalized for providing them... Assuming they aren't too off-base.

[CodeMage]

I guess that what puts me off is the "TL;DR" expression itself. It passes a judgment both on the content ("it was too long, so I didn't read it") and the readers of the comment ("since you don't read stuff that's long, here's what it's about").

I'm certainly not criticizing hammock's summary. As these things go, his is pretty accurate. But the best you can say about a summary is that it doesn't really add anything to a discussion -- that's what makes a good summary.

[wccrawford]

Think of it more like metadata. I've had good summaries get me to read the entire article, when I would have blown it off by the title alone. (Time isn't infinite... You have to choose somehow.)

So in that respect summaries can indirectly add to the discussion.

[jerf]

I'm sitting on an HN self post on this topic, which largely follows your logic and expands it a bit more (though not too much for a self post). Haven't been able to figure out if I should post it or not.

[CodeMage]

I at least would love to see it.