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Re: undefined

#31

Post by badatmath »

danilocampos wrote: post #13

I grow so weary of this community's combativeness. Allow me to translate such a headline. "I am [age] and I made [thing]" actually means "I am new at this. I know you guys aren't. I want you to check it out and give me encouragement and guidance." Do they want attention? Of course! They believe, correctly, that the attention of more experienced people will lead to their growth. We should absolutely give it to them. Y…

Agree 100%. Also, I think it's a positive, because it means the poster is proactively thinking about how to get attention for his product, as opposed to being the "proud closeted genius".

Re: undefined

#32

Post by JasonFruit »

I read this as, "Something that matters to other people doesn't matter to me, so please everyone stop talking about it!"

To me, the fact that something was built by someone young and inexperienced makes a difference — I'm likely to be gentler and, instead of disregarding it because of its flaws, willing to kindly point out those flaws. It may be irrelevant in your mind, but look: obviously many in this community disagree.

Re: undefined

#33

Post by dlf »

I think age is relevant insofar as it's indicative of experience. I think there is value, both for the OP and commenters, in knowing the age of a particularly young poster because you can reference your experiences in learning to build things and encourage them in their pursuits. It's also incredibly encouraging to see young people building at an early age.

You imply that they were gaming the system to by using their age to get on the first page, rather than their merit. I'd say that something perhaps mediocre built by someone who is young merits recognition more than something mediocre built by an older, perhaps more experienced developer (we've all seen the "Weekend project" posts, but we say "hey cool, you did that in a weekend?!").

As you say, "I think anybody who wants to learn, share, and grow should be commended and encouraged, and I’m glad HN agrees with me." Isn't knowing how young someone is or how experienced they are relevant to assisting in ones learning and growth? If you've been a Rubyist for 15 years, another's advice to you on something you've built is going to be much different than if you've only been at it for 15 months.

Let's not shit on a 14 year old kid (yes, everyone knows what post you were talking about). There's no "manipulation" in mentioning your age when you're seeking feedback and growth. It's very helpful to know where someone is in their development when offering feedback and encouragement, and I think if HN is to be the sort of place where folks come to "learn, share, and grow," we should allow people to share their age or how long they've been at it.

You did bring up a good point though, that this may not have made it to the front page if it wasn't for his age. Perhaps HN readers should be more generous in helping folks get feedback on their work by upvoting "Show HN" posts. If what they've built is really complete shit, then we should help them learn why that's so by upvoting and commenting on what they've built. It seems more constructive than passive aggressive blog posts tearing people down.

Re: undefined

#35

Post by dakimov »

citricsquid wrote: post #19
JohnsonB wrote: post #10

Because the metric is excellence. Realistically, you can't expect a 14 year old to produce something of the quality from someone with a decade more experience, all else being equal. But if they can produce something that is uncommonly ahead of your time , then you have a case for showing it off based on that fact, and it benefits the community to reward skill as early as possible and give people the opportunities tha…

Age doesn't reflect on experience. There are 15 year olds that have half a decade of experience developing and there are 30 year olds that started last week. The people that upvote "I'm 15 and this is my new app..." probably aren't going to upvote "I'm 30 and this is my new app..." but the latter could be a more impressive achievement.

Yep, that's called age fascism.

Re: undefined

#37

Post by YuriNiyazov »

dakimov wrote: post #35
citricsquid wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Age doesn't reflect on experience. There are 15 year olds that have half a decade of experience developing and there are 30 year olds that started last week. The people that upvote "I'm 15 and this is my new app..." probably aren't going to upvote "I'm 30 and this is my new app..." but the latter could be a more impressive achievement.

Yep, that's called age fascism.

"Fascism" is a little strong, don't you think? "Discrimination" is probably more appropriate.

Re: undefined

#38

Post by tirrellp »

danilocampos wrote: post #13

I grow so weary of this community's combativeness. Allow me to translate such a headline. "I am [age] and I made [thing]" actually means "I am new at this. I know you guys aren't. I want you to check it out and give me encouragement and guidance." Do they want attention? Of course! They believe, correctly, that the attention of more experienced people will lead to their growth. We should absolutely give it to them. Y…

This is awesome.

Re: undefined

#39

Post by YuriNiyazov »

majorlazer wrote: post #21

Thanks for posting this. Also, I would think that one of the main goals of submitting your work to HN would be to get some valuable feedback. If you tell everyone, "I am only 12, check out what I made," many people will give you feedback based on your age. I don't think you want, or need, that. You want your work to be treated just like everyone else's. Because it doesn't matter how good your work is for somebody you…

Someone who is 12 wants and needs is exactly that. That's why we don't rate science projects made by 12 year olds by the same standard we rate Nobel Prize winners.

Re: undefined

#40

Post by sw007 »

danilocampos wrote: post #13

I grow so weary of this community's combativeness. Allow me to translate such a headline. "I am [age] and I made [thing]" actually means "I am new at this. I know you guys aren't. I want you to check it out and give me encouragement and guidance." Do they want attention? Of course! They believe, correctly, that the attention of more experienced people will lead to their growth. We should absolutely give it to them. Y…

Agree 100%. The OP has probably written this because of the 14 year old who developed an app (was on HN earlier). I found it so inspiring. Developing anything, especially apps, I imagine is not easy - I applaud anyone who can do it but the fact the person did it at such a young age was so impressive and made me think 'wow, if a 14 year old can do this then so can I, I should learn'.

If these types of posts piss you off so much, just ignore it. Half the time it is as though some on HN think they are forced to read every post. You're not. If you know something is going to piss you off, ignore it and read something else - there are plenty of articles to choose from.

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