How about this instead: I should remain humble, always open to the possibility that I could be wrong, or my work could need improvement; use reason, logic and critical thinking to assess feedback objectively.
Embrace the trolls
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Re: Embrace the trolls
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Outlying opinions are not appreciated on HN though I would amend that to, "Outlying opinions are often subject to harsh treatment on HN." As an occasional outlier here, I used to wonder if I was losing my mind from time to time. How could I feel so strongly about something while almost every responder felt the opposite? I don't worry about it so much any more. Just say what you're thinking and let the chips fall wher…
If they respond in writing you learn something if all you get is a bunch of unmotivated downvotes (and that happens quite often) it even leaves the old hands feeling like they got beaten up for something without knowing why. This is frustrating.
> all you get is a bunch of unmotivated downvotes (and that happens quite often) it even leaves the old hands feeling like they got beaten up for something without knowing why.
"old hands" has nothing to do with it. It's basically a couple of people who claim that they're owed something by other folks on HN.
> This is frustrating.
In almost every other community, you get NO feedback and you're here complaining that you're not getting feedback in the form that you'd like.
When someone gives you a gift that isn't exactly what you'd like, the gracious thing to do is to thank them.
Re: Embrace the trolls
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they respond in writing you learn something if all you get is a bunch of unmotivated downvotes (and that happens quite often) it even leaves the old hands feeling like they got beaten up for something without knowing why. This is frustrating.
> all you get is a bunch of unmotivated downvotes (and that happens quite often) it even leaves the old hands feeling like they got beaten up for something without knowing why. "old hands" has nothing to do with it. It's basically a couple of people who claim that they're owed something by other folks on HN. > This is frustrating. In almost every other community, you get NO feedback and you're here complaining that y…
Thank you ;)
Re: Embrace the trolls
#14Trolls aren't always someone who responds in a negative and strong way, though. The "best" trolls are the ones that you're not even sure are trolling...
Re: Embrace the trolls
#15There's a big difference between people with outlying opinions, who can add valuable feedback to a discussion and trolls, who add nothing. Experiments have repeatedly shown that when trolls are visible only to themselves, no one else can acknowledge their presence, so they just go away. Trolls are to be ignored. Outliers are to be embraced.
HN has some of this built in it looks like. Plenty of times I'll see a comment by someone (usually clearly trolling) and the comment is labelled 'dead' seconds after posting. Here is a timely example: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=743103 The comment at the bottom clearly is not a troll and yet it is labelled 'dead'. Outlying opinions are not appreciated on HN though, there was a 'worstcomments' link (admin only…
I'm not sure what's up with that deaded comment.
Most 'outlying opinions', when reasonably defended (e.g., with paragraphs and citations) seem to do pretty well. There's a clear 'winner', in that one set of responses will have scores that dwarf the dissent, but rarely do I see earnestly given, somewhat supported answers drowned below -1. (Example, from the first headline on /best that appeared politicky enough to incite vitriol: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=738357)
Iconoclastic comments are difficult to discern from foolish comments because all votes get pooled- the disagree vote and the 'not contributing' vote count the same (as they should). A potential method to prop up iconoclastic comments: when a post has received a large number of votes on both sides, display both counts, as opposed to the summed count. This gives a fighting chance to differentiate the 'derp derp derp' from the controversial, and helps reconcile the differences in how downvotes are used against arguments of differing qualities.
Re: Embrace the trolls
#16How about this instead: I should remain humble, always open to the possibility that I could be wrong, or my work could need improvement; use reason, logic and critical thinking to assess feedback objectively.
Humility is generally a virtue; but not in the face of arrogant stupidity, then it is pandering to idiots. There are claims, unfortunately fairly common on some political issues, where you can be sure comment you are responding to is egregiously wrong.