[monatron]

Who determines what the decorum for such a dialog should be? Does the informality effect in any way the rationality or defensibility of their choices? Why do people care? I'd much rather read an article in this tone rather than some stuffy technical blog like many other engineering teams sometimes put out.

[pifflesnort]

> Does the informality effect in any way the rationality or defensibility of their choices?

Clarity in writing is not a stuffy affectation, but rather is the entire mechanism by which one both expresses an opinion, and provides an understandable, rational justification for that opinion. Without this, the reader is left with nothing but unsupported conjecture, opinion, and emotive appeals.

[stcredzero]

> Does the informality effect in any way the rationality or defensibility of their choices?

This implicitly calls me a liar. As I stated above, the word choice and informality don't bother me. That they spent so little time thinking if the article would make sense to a random reader does. That goes against my expectations for NPR.