Stop Acting Like You're Famous • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#181

Post by 331c8c71 » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 12:51 PM UTC

mapreduce wrote: post #110

Why is it so that every so often one of these feel-good LinkedIn-style posts make it to the front page? Is there so much demand for banality on this site? I come here to read good tech articles or articles that stimulate my curiosity and it is sad to see these articles upvoted to the top when so many other good articles at https://news.ycombinator.com/newest continue to languish.

If anything the original post looks like the very antithesis of a typical linkedin post which is overboard with enthusiasm and positivity (to the point of being nauseating) and devoid of even a hint of introspection or a reality check. Maybe it's just our linkedin networks and personalizations are very different... who knows?

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#182

Post by Nekorosu » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 12:56 PM UTC

The title could also be "Breaking out of a product thinking."

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#183

Post by synergy20 » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 12:59 PM UTC

blowski wrote: post #127

emotional_fool wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you mind sharing those accounts?

I'd suggest going through https://news.ycombinator.com/leaders and looking at their submission history.

how to follow them at HN?

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#184

Post by BlueTemplar » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:07 PM UTC

detourdog wrote: post #104

keiferski wrote: post #65

I haven’t studied the topic enough, but it would be very interesting to see when this dichotomy of money-making vs. self-interest really embedded itself into the act of creation. Somewhere during the Industrial Revolution, I suppose. But I also think the default mode of “art as self expression” plays a big part, and that’s more early-mid 20th century. Because when you read about creators during say, the Renaissance,…

I would place somewhere between the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to Reaganomics I remember it being pretty easy to get by on very little money. The go go eighties really changed materialism from my perspective.

Reaganomics are more likely to have been a consequence (of US' peak oil) than a cause of prosperity starting to dive back to the normal.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#185

Post by 331c8c71 » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:07 PM UTC

lapcat wrote: post #134

mapreduce wrote: post #110

Why is it so that every so often one of these feel-good LinkedIn-style posts make it to the front page? Is there so much demand for banality on this site? I come here to read good tech articles or articles that stimulate my curiosity and it is sad to see these articles upvoted to the top when so many other good articles at https://news.ycombinator.com/newest continue to languish.

HN is a comment site masquerading as a news site. A large percentage of commenters go directly to the comments without ever reading the article. They just want an excuse to spout their opinions.

Why put a negative spin on it? It's a perfectly normal desire to socialize that way...

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#186

Post by ponow » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:09 PM UTC

OP written by someone well-employed, so anything done outside steady paid work ought to be done for enjoyment. Nice luxury, that many don't enjoy.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#187

Post by queuebert » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:10 PM UTC

another2another wrote: post #166

lapcat wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is a comment site masquerading as a news site. A large percentage of commenters go directly to the comments without ever reading the article. They just want an excuse to spout their opinions.

Well, there was the Great Slashdot Influx of 2010, where not reading TFA before commenting was a badge of honour.

As an old Slashdot user with a low user ID, I disagree. Not RTFA was definitely scorned as it was on the Usenet. But you had limited ability to vote people down, so perhaps it appeared more socially acceptable.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#188

Post by BlueTemplar » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:14 PM UTC

resonious wrote: post #27

> ... stop optimizing for a non-existent audience and instead focus on what makes you enjoy the activity. What if I enjoy optimizing for a non-existent audience?

It has to be said that thanks to the Internet, it's now perfectly possible for the most niche audience to connect with the author.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#189

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:15 PM UTC

Brajeshwar wrote: post #174

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm... See a whole lot of experience, there. Maybe this isn't just "a young man's game," after all...

Now, you are having fun or making fun of us. With your list to experiences, I'm going to assume you are lot senior to me. ;-)

> Now, you are having fun or making fun of us.

Yes ;).

I have become somewhat… jaded, in my view of the current tech scene.

I’m sure that some of it is just sour grapes, on my part, but that doesn’t make the problem any less real.

I don’t really feel like going through my posting history, but there’s been a number of times that I’ve been “OK, Boomer”ed, here (I suspect that you’d need to turn on I See Dead Posts to catch most).

I’ve learned to accept the SillyCon Valley ageism, but it still pisses me off, to see the awful results of disastrous decisions made by folks without experience. Many of these jackpots were entirely predictable, to anyone with scars.

If it were just the Principals, getting hurt, I wouldn’t mind so much, but the blast radius tends to include a lot of collateral damage.

Re: Stop Acting Like You're Famous

#190

Post by ponow » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 1:24 PM UTC

aerhardt wrote: post #13

I had a goal of programming every morning for an hour, and it wouldn’t stick… Once I dropped any pretense of making money, or getting anything out of it other than enjoying the craft, it has finally stuck.

So, do the habit every day, but don't do it because of any secondary goal (like money), other than the immediate goal doing the habit itself.

Problem is, if you haven't completely bought into the habit yet, and it feels uncomfortable relative to other options, I don't know that you can avoid asking yourself "why" you're doing the habit.

In your example, I guess you already find programming fascinating, but hadn't found the discipline to practice regularly. But I still don't know how many people wouldn't abandon developing the habit if they get stuck in the weeds.

Imagine learning the violin, because you've liked to listen to classical music. It takes a lot of faith when you're stuck hearing how bad you sound at the beginning, and how you have to duck nasty glances or comments from others in your household that have to endure your practicing. A secondary goal might be to be admitted to an orchestra and do concerts that your friends and family might attend. But that being "vanity" means that we should only focus on the primary goal of enjoying violin music. Again, I see many people getting lost in the weeds without secondary goals of some sort acting as a lodestar.