You can't impress developers

Appreciation and valuable feedback are two different things. What value does "this is great; let me buy you a pretty unicorn!" add to the discussion? Criticism and disagreement are central to growth. We are not here satisfy each others' egos or make each other feel loved; we're here to criticize software and make it better. Constructive criticism is our way of saying: "I have spent time reading your code, and here is how you can make it better" -- I don't have the time to read everything, so the very fact that I took the time to read your code and write about it should make you feel appreciated.

That said, it is possible to go overboard and criticize something based on irrational hatred. At that point, you're just talking about trolls: it has nothing to do with developers not appreciating each others' work. Internet trolls have existed since the dawn of the internet, and there are plenty of resources on how to deal with them.

How you communicate your criticism is also important: there is no need to be overtly negative. Just point out what's wrong, and how to correct it; your job is done. Here's a recent instance where I've been overtly negative: the correct response is criticism of my style, as Junio has done [1].

[1]: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/22535...

Hacker News is going through a predictable evolution.

In the early days it's a wonderful community of supportive collaborators. These are the people who start unmoderated mail lists and discussion groups, at least the ones that grow to the next stage.

It attracts people who want to be part of an unmoderated mail list or discussion group. It doesn't matter what the topic is, they always show up. They feel a sense of empowerment. They have arrived at the place where decisions are made, and they have an equal voice! They will express themselves.

Then it becomes about governance. How will we make decisions (even though the decisions are about nothing).

Then even those people leave, because the atmosphere is so poisoned by the negative people who say they hate everything and anything.

The good folk who started the community are long-gone, probably dreaming about new communities where everyone gets along and is supportive and has good ideas and doesn't get in anyone's way! Only to do it again, and again...

What's so impressive about screwing in a lightbulb. I don't get it.

I'm just wondering, if one day someone submit a post on HN "Bob Smith just have implemented AI-Hard in JavaScript as his weekend project, watch the demo", what would be the first comment :)

HN comments are heavy on critique. Maybe that's a side effect of an aggregator and a culture that discourages trivial chatter.

A year of keeping up with HN has been a crash course on how to build things for the internet. I don't know what my stack would look like without all the unimpressed developers picking apart the industry news. Keep it up.