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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36051
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Acknowledgments that list about two or three pages of names have become an annoying fad that I would avoid.

Sam Sacks argues "[Against Acknowledgments](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/against-acknowledgments)" in _The New Yorker_, because to him they diminish a book. Kate Messner warns in a blog post that you should "[Think before you thank](http://www.katemessner.com/think-before-you-thank-writers-acknowledgments/)", because some help may have been given in the understanding that it would remain private.

Personally, acknowlegments feel like navel-gazing to me. Learning of the personal relationships of the author and the personal problems the author went through when she was writing her novel does satisfy my voyeuristic tendencies, but it also lessens my respect for the author that she cannot keep private matters private.

Eight years ago Nathan Bransford asked the readers of his blog how they feel about acknowlegments. If you want you can read through the [154 comments](https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/07/can-i-get-ruling-how-do-we-feel-about-2) to learn what the consensus was. (Spoiler: Most find them okay.)

Original score: 3