I'm looking for excellent writing on the internet, as inspiration to improve my own writing. Form, content, topic or politics are secondary.<p>What do you recommend? Ideally freely accessible.
It's an interesting question because I am not sure that "good writing"
can be separated from content subject matter.<p>George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" is a the standard
reading advice in this context [0].<p>However, in many ways it is outdated, though it still resonates
because we all dislike gaseous bloviators. The quality is inseparable;e
from the message.<p>So consider this [1] reply to a commenter yesterday.<p>Giving the strongest interpretation and assuming the commenter
was writing in good faith, s/he <i>experienced</i> what is by
all reasonable standards "a good essay" as awful, seemingly
because they bitterly disagree with the message.<p>Therefore, I don't think one can ordinarily experience prose in
isolation as "good", even if technically faultless. The message is
part of the reading experience.<p>The contrary also applies. I'll be down-voted to hell for saying it [2]
but I personally find Paul Graham (who writes here frequently)
as rather anodyne in style. The topics he chooses are interesting
however little is ventured in colour.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/" rel="nofollow">https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=39737184">https://news.ycombinator.com/context?id=39737184</a><p>[2] which might prove my point that acceptability of message trumps all
other qualities in the experience of reading.