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Too good to be true

~tryops

I think there is an important element in works that is often overlooked: human error. Most of the time it is seen as something bad that you want to keep as minimal as possible.

But that is only true in very technical environments and less everywhere else, like creative fields. Spotting human error in a work, be it a text, artwork or a video can make everything about the work so much more human. It reminds you that there was a real person sitting there making this thing.

I think this is one of the reasons I like lofi hiphop so much, because you can hear the (often intentional) mediocre sound quality that references the creation process of the song, which is something you don't get much in other genres.

I also prefer websites that feel more handcrafted rather than sticking-to-a-strict-standard-à-la-material-design for example.

However, just making mistakes doesn't automatically make it more personal. Take a look at this table:

                     +-------------+---------------+
                     | intentional | unintentional |
+--------------------+-------------+---------------+
| making mistakes    |      A      |       B       |
+--------------------+-------------+---------------+
| making no mistakes |      C      |       D       |
+--------------------+-------------+---------------+

A mixture of case A and B is what I'm referring to here: Making mistakes by accident without the intention of making it perfect. It is the the same attitude you have when you make something for yourself. You just make it however you make it no matter how it turns out to be. You could make it better if you put in more time and revised it more often but its good enough for you and there isn't anyone you need to please other than you. That feels the most natural and personal to me I think.

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~blackwood wrote:

This is something I know I struggle with a lot. The battle between the urge to pursue an illusion of perfection and the urge to openly imprace of reality of flaw is hard fought and often leads to the early demise of projects that I now wish i had completed.

The approach that has helped me deal with this the most is looking at this from a hypothetical future perspective. The stories, the growth, and the experience are more often then not the most valuable parts and worth pursuing as an integral part of the whole that is completion.

If I were a betting woman I'd say the folks in the comment thread talking about brewing alcohol would agree :)

~shiloh wrote (thread):

Hmm, I like your observation here! I made a couple chess boards over the summer, and only majorly fucked up one of them. That's the one I kept, and I gave the other two to a friend and my old wrestling coach/history teacher. Even though the lines don't match up exactly and there's a little space between the playing area and the border piece, I still like to use the board. And I guess I place some extra value on it because I made it myself, and the mistakes make it unique without compromising its usability.

~tatterdemalion wrote:

That's why I missed one question on my Starfleet Medical final exam (mixed up a preganglionic fiber with a postganglionic nerve) and only graduated as salutatorian.