[mek6800d2]

> Not understanding English from the early 1800's ... I can sometimes more easily understand written Greek, Spanish or French (I don't speak any of those languages) than old English.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, written in the 1790s and published in 1813, is more difficult to read than 3 languages one doesn't speak?

Yes, a modern reader may not understand a word here and there. I myself did a double take when reading a Victorian mystery novel by T.W. Speight and the detective was discussing his cup of tea while discussing the case. I didn't throw up my hands and stop reading. I understood the general drift of the scene and continued on enjoying the rest of the novel. I later confirmed that "discuss" had an archaic meaning of consuming a food or beverage, but even if I hadn't, I still would have enjoyed the book. And "whiskers" in a Dickens' novel per the article is not exactly a show-stopper.

Padding is perhaps a problem in books (especially when it takes 100-200 pages to get into a novel!), but I see a worse problem online: everyone and their brother gaming the systems (LinkedIn, Substack, Medium, Quora, Reddit, etc.) by posting articles about technical topics about which they know very little and getting the content very, very wrong. Incorrect information which then gets disseminated to countless readers who accept it as the gospel truth and who, in turn, then disseminate it in one form or another to countless others.

The enormity of the flood of information on the internet also makes it difficult to distinguish multiple perspectives, let alone decide which perspectives are credible. The reader has to rely on -- just like with books -- experience and will eventually learn to reach out to respected sources and references.