Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?

Seems to me this thread doesn't show denial at all. Most conclusions that people draw from particular threads are confirmation bias. That's especially true about the largely random initial state of a thread. Typically they soon fill up with comments contradicting the initial impression.

The topic of alcohol has appeared on HN many times, always generates active discussion, and never lacks for critical comments. If anything, anti-alcohol comments tend to dominate slightly.

The college alcohol study from Harvard lists criteria, but they are all generally things that have clear negative impact. i.e. alcohol-related school problems, legal, interersonal problems. These are things that fit the traditional definition of alcoholism, i.e., "your drinking is screwing up your life". The college alcohol study also makes no mention of "high-functioning alcoholism" in either the press release or abstract, so I don't see how it's relevant to the article at all except that someone thought it lended credence to the claims.

The "high-functioning alcoholic" categorization seems really fishy to me. Somehow a person is overachieving, has no negative effects from alcohol consumption, and yet is an alcoholic? On what grounds is that claim made? Because they drink more than someone else thinks they should?

My drinking affected the social vibe of it, and when I didn't drink, majority of people in the room would call it out. It took a lot of self-control not to cave to peer-pressure, but after a while, people respected the decision.

But it was awkward, knowing that people are a little buzzed around the close of the day, and I'm the only sober one. I feel like I've kind of had to stay away from social events because I don't drink, which is a shame because I'd love to hang out and discuss software with people, but can't really fit in socially.

I think the most important thing I'd say to drinkers is that if there's someone who doesn't drink, don't ostracize them or judge them. There's a lot of reasons why people won't drink, religious, personal, etc. And for those non-drinkers, don't go around complaining about the drinking culture, or make others feel uncomfortable. I learned that when I wasn't drinking, others thought I was silently judging them which wasn't the case at all. In the end, it boils down to the principle of not judging others and just having tolerance for one another.

Every time I recount this, I feel like it reads like an alcoholic, but I hate getting drunk, and I don't particularly enjoy getting buzzed, and hangovers are basically not something I'm willing to deal with so I avoid them at all costs.

For me, I drink because beer and wine are lovely beverages. I've searched for other beverages that have the depth of variety and nuance of these, and I just can't find them. I find tea to be weakly flavored, kambucha is ok but not THAT interesting... soda is disgusting and bad for you.

My comment was mostly in jest because at the time of posting I don't think there was one mention of the word alcohol. Plus I thought programmers were more known for their coffee use rather than alcohol.

I will also add that I have no problem with caffeine, just coffee. Drink tea. Strong, black tea, with milk.