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Hacker News is depressing

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Re: Hacker News is depressing

#191

Post by rahoulb »

tbomb wrote: post #155
zeteo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the meanness of programming communities is a the biggest problem we have Or maybe it's our biggest asset. In a world filled with bullshit (how many people you think really empathize with you - vs. just going through the motions?), it's refreshing to have a little corner where they honestly tell you why your ideas suck and your background is deficient. It kind of comes with the profession, yes. Only a relentlessly cr…

But you can be honest about a bad/terrible idea without being and asshole about it. I thrive on the criticism I get from others and look forward to speaking with people who think my ideas are no good, as long as they can explain their reasoning. There's a world of difference between "Your idea sucks." and "Your idea sucks because,"

Or even better "I'm not sure about your idea because..." as that leaves the door open to it being a misunderstanding on my part, which is always a possibility.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#192

Post by DenisM »

There are two often overlooked reasons why this happens:

1. Thoughtful, contributing comments take a lot of effort to write, and people who write them can do other productive things. Pretty much every time I put effort into a thoughtful comment it gets ignored. It's particularly upsetting when it's "ask HN" or "show HN" type of thing - not a reply, not an up vote, do you even listen when you ask? So I stopped writing thoughtful comments ( * ), except for my own benefit - when I need to write something down to really think it through.

2. With the post title like you had I assumed it was celebrity gossip and did not even click the link. You can imagine the type of people that did click the link anyway. By choosing a subject you're choosing the audience.

( * )Ironically, this comment took me some effort to write. :)

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#193

Post by scott_s »

gwgarry wrote: post #147
moomin wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sooner people understand that anti-social behaviour is about community and not about rights the better, but I still see people confusing the two. Yes you've got a right to be rude, you've also got a right to blather on for two hours about Dragonball Z. Both behaviours will leave adults concluding that you're not capable of mature discussion. And if you and your mates establish a norm of anti-social behaviour, you…

> The sooner people understand that anti-social behaviour is about community and not about rights the better "Anti-social" behavior according to whom and to what extent and for what purpose? For the purpose of feminizing men so that they are more passive and they fit better into your ideals of who people should be? So to fit men who want to be themselves into your little cult of civility? > I still see people confusi…

You're new here, so you may think people are downvoting you for what you're saying. They're really downvoting you for how you say it. We try to put a premium on being civil.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#194

Post by gosu »

gwgarry wrote: post #147
moomin wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sooner people understand that anti-social behaviour is about community and not about rights the better, but I still see people confusing the two. Yes you've got a right to be rude, you've also got a right to blather on for two hours about Dragonball Z. Both behaviours will leave adults concluding that you're not capable of mature discussion. And if you and your mates establish a norm of anti-social behaviour, you…

> The sooner people understand that anti-social behaviour is about community and not about rights the better "Anti-social" behavior according to whom and to what extent and for what purpose? For the purpose of feminizing men so that they are more passive and they fit better into your ideals of who people should be? So to fit men who want to be themselves into your little cult of civility? > I still see people confusi…

You're right. Everything is relative and you can do whatever you want, exactly as the poster whom you've responded to but completely ignored pointed out. The point is that he's calling on people to either match his values, or else risk losing his favor and those of the communities he mentioned. You may not care much, but the evidence of the downvotes on your comment suggests that the HN community agrees with him and not you. So you may find that your message of exclusion ironically helps to effect your own exclusion from a community that you apparently care about, since you're posting here.

>feminizing men

The thing with edgy, weird opinions like that is that it's unlikely that you hold them because you're wiser than prevailing wisdom. Apparently, Real Men antagonise strangers over the internet.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#195

Post by pg »

I'm not sure what he's proposing. If he means let site owners specify that people not be able to submit their sites to HN, I've actually daydreamed occasionally about doing that myself for paulgraham.com. But it might not work in practice, because determined submitters would just mirror the text elsewhere and submit that.

He's right though that Twitter has a big advantage in that it's easy to ignore jerks. It might be a good idea to introduce some form of following or blocking here.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#196

Post by VonGuard »

steveklabnik wrote: post #143
Udo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is simply a problem of aggregating tens of thousands of content consumers in one spot and trying to have a single conversation. If I may offer a counter point. One of the complaints about users on HN is how they treat Show HNs. The worst thing is arguably working on something and getting totally ignored. The second worst thing is probably getting verbal abuse for your project, from people you respect, no less.…

> Now 4chan has the reputation of being somewhat of a sewer, /b/ has the reputation of being a sewer, and people who don't frequent 4chan see them as being equivalent. Outside of /b/, 4chan is great. In fact, one of the reasons that /b/ still even exists is that they just post in /x/ and elsewhere. Best to honeypot them.

Thirding 4Chan as a healthy community. My buddy insists it's a great community because the content is always being deleted, and thus, 4chan reinvents itself every day.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#197

Post by return0 »

cglace wrote: post #122
return0 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You 're implying that women don't swear?

I think you missed the point. Go ahead and repeat that quote to the nearest woman and see if they share your view.

The particular quote doesn't ring particularly sexist or homophobic. It's NSFW, but the linux kernel is not exactly kindergarten material.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#199

Post by stackcollision »

gwgarry wrote: post #147
moomin wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sooner people understand that anti-social behaviour is about community and not about rights the better, but I still see people confusing the two. Yes you've got a right to be rude, you've also got a right to blather on for two hours about Dragonball Z. Both behaviours will leave adults concluding that you're not capable of mature discussion. And if you and your mates establish a norm of anti-social behaviour, you…

> The sooner people understand that anti-social behaviour is about community and not about rights the better "Anti-social" behavior according to whom and to what extent and for what purpose? For the purpose of feminizing men so that they are more passive and they fit better into your ideals of who people should be? So to fit men who want to be themselves into your little cult of civility? > I still see people confusi…

You tried to defend yourself in this post, but I think you accidentally ended up making his point for him.

Re: Hacker News is depressing

#200

Post by cschmidt »

danilocampos wrote: post #176
cschmidt wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard people insult Dave's last name many times over the years. You are the first I've seen that meant it as Winer == Whiner. It is more commonly trying to call him a reference to the male anatomy, which is dumb and offensive. I think that's the way many would have taken your comment.

How is it meant to be pronounced?

You can here him say it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Winer

It is Wine-r (like the grape beverage with an r on the end)

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