[RicoElectrico]

I'd rather have more submissions like this on the HN frontpage than the slew of entrepreneurship advice (good or bad), programming-languages-du-jour and disguised content marketing.

Anyway, the premise that "everything I see has to appeal to me" would best stay on YouTube where it originated.

[wildmanx]

I didn't intend to demand "everything I see has to appeal to me". I was merely pointing out that the meaning and impact of a headline are relative to the target audience and this was an example that illustrated the difference. With the effect that somebody somewhat rightfully asked "eh what is this about again"?

The HN crowd has a different average toolbox than the article's author, so the apparent mismatch between headline and article content was confusing.

[SubiculumCode]

It IS a good article, but the audience of the article is fairly specific yet left unspecified. As a general principal in technical writing it is advisable to start with a "why you should care" statement because this naturally informs the reader about the context.

[wheelinsupial]

Is the second section “when would I use this” sufficient to provide a “why you should care statement”? Or is there a more common way to call this out in technical writing? Perhaps an “intended audience” or “necessary prerequisites”?

[SubiculumCode]

I mean there is nothing "wrong" with starting at the 2nd paragraph (and that was was just for the more limited Laplace version of Poisson's), its just not generally the most effective writing style. Yes, there is some subjectivity here, but writing is hard, and it is only through criticism that we learn to be better technical writers.

The first paragraph of the conclusion would have better served as the Introductory remark: "Poisson's equation comes up in many domains. Once you know how to recognize it and solve it, you will be capable of simulating a very wide range of physical phenomena." That is a great sentence. I'm interested now, and I know its context.

[wheelinsupial]

> it is only through criticism that we learn to be better technical writers.

Hence the line of questioning. Thanks for the response!

[quaintdev]

There should exist a subreddit for exactly these type of articles which are in depth. Who know article like this may want someone to learn something entirely different than their domain and then they end up applying it in their domain in a whole new way.

[alisonkisk]

Please don't sling pointless insults. That would best stay on...nowhwere, will it belongs.

Parent's concern was for the misleading titles that appear on HN, due to HN's fear of submitters.