Ask HN: Your Favourite HN Comment?

Post by surround » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

cercatrova wrote: post #164

wombatmobile wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As human beings, moderators have their own preferences which exist beyond the HN guidelines, and are not meta moderated, except in the aggregate. When a comment becomes dead, it's because some mods chose to vote it down, and fewer mods choose to revive it. The net effect is an expression of the prevailing culture. Your question about why this sometimes happens "immediately" is an interesting part of the dynamic.

Seems like the sibling comment also by leafboi shows that HN automatically makes dead, accounts with negative karma.

Post by 29athrowaway » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 5:29 PM UTC

combatentropy wrote: post #11

One of my favorites is a super-long one by a user named bane, about three solutions to speeding up computing: (1) "high" (more RAM, CPU), (2) "wide" (more machines), and (3) "deep" (refactoring), which is what he recommends first. More than once he has rewritten something that was running slowly even on the latest and greatest architectures (perhaps partially because of that), to running on a single machine, even an…

Post by selestify » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #157

p1mrx wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be fun to think of "new" ideas, and then search the Internet for them. This week, I wanted a handheld device to push buttons and open doors without touching them; found several for sale (though the models without covers seem useless.) Later I wanted a 3D support structure to fit under a mask and increase its usable surface area; found several for sale.

I think I'm fairly creative, but I've only had one or two ideas that weren't reinventions of something someone else had already done. Doesn't matter what it is: software, electrical circuit, some clever mechanical thing, it's almost always already been done. Even if you look at patent grants, almost none of them are truly novel.

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 5:35 PM UTC

Post by golergka » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 5:43 PM UTC

aleem wrote: post #109

On what should you be: > This guy has gone to the zoo and interviewed all the animals. The tiger says that the secret to success is to live alone, be well disguised, have sharp claws and know how to stalk. The snail says that the secret is to live inside a solid shell, stay small, hide under dead trees and move slowly around at night. The parrot says that success lies in eating fruit, being alert, packing light, movi…