"The dry style of journals evolved that way for a reason."
Because neither the authors of most scientific papers nor the editors of most scientific journals and conference proceedings can write well?
Now, Paxos and the Byzantine Generals thing are probably examples of Lamport going too far in the other, impressed-with-his-own-wittiness direction, but I've had many more problems understanding papers in the dry style, where gibberish seems to be accepted if it's in the right form. (And I'm looking at you, Flaviu Cristian.)
Because neither the authors of most scientific papers nor the editors of most scientific journals and conference proceedings can write well?
Now, Paxos and the Byzantine Generals thing are probably examples of Lamport going too far in the other, impressed-with-his-own-wittiness direction, but I've had many more problems understanding papers in the dry style, where gibberish seems to be accepted if it's in the right form. (And I'm looking at you, Flaviu Cristian.)