Why I now, unfortunately, hate Hacker News..

I don't know if you are going to read this, but I'm going to write it for the rest of the audience too.

I think the trend of dismissing critics and commenting along the lines of "sour grapes" or "haters" very disturbing. Yes I go against your commentary. The great thing about internet and communities based on pseudonyms is that you get the first reaction that people have. Very few will take a few minutes to give their opinion, weight the different possibilities etc... It's brutal, it's direct. If you have run a service online you certainly know that you receive very angry/ threatening emails from people that use your services and are displeased. If it disturbs you it means that you are not ready for having a personal project on display, it's as simple as that. People in life and particularly on the internet are very angry and you have disturbed individuals. Opening a service with your name and your address is becoming some kind of "celebrity", people will HATE you for no good reason.

To come back to what I think is bad/annoying on Hacker News is of a different nature and I'll list a few:

* Well thought comments are often ignored and not read ( not up/downvoted, just ignored )

* Stardom: No matter what they post some ""famous"" people around here get their post on the front page. By courtesy I won't list who they are but everybody can spot it pretty easily. I'm very disappointed by this attitude personally, and it doesn't speak highly of a place that is supposed to be almost a pure meritocracy.

* Fads/ Jealousy: A lot of people here want to be rich and famous thus it creates tension. It allows me to come back to your point: these people are likely going to dismiss your ideas based on jealousy.

* Over-repetition of some stories ad nauseum: dumb benchmarks to see the number of req/s, analysis App.net, Education sucks...

All that being said it remains an interesting community but with some drawbacks. I guess nothing can have it all.

In my personal opinion, receiving negative responses is good for your startup because learn to deal with them. I do agree, that if that is all you are getting, it is disconcerting. But, maybe there is something wrong with your startup/project.

Think about this, I have a lot of friends, and when I showed them my project, they all said: "That is amazing!" "It is going to change the world" So on, and so forth.

See I love my friends, but that doesn't help me. I am not building a startup to get fame, I am trying to solve a problem. My friends love me and don't want to hurt my feelings, but honestly, my feelings are not part of the startup equation. My friends will not help me improve my vision to solve a problem.

HN has been good at showing a lot of negatives when projects are shown here, but you have to really try to understand what they are saying. Listen to the negatives, they are the best response you are going to get, because they will highlight the flaws on your business model, your project or even your idea.

Instead of looking at those negative responses as a way to get you down, listen to them, and try to get the best out of it. Deep inside a negative is just another way to tell how to succeed.

Hope this helps, Alex.

Constructive feedback is generally what you want. Positive vs negative is more about mood than content - and there is plenty of worthless positive feedback out there.

^This.

Sometimes people feel very passionate about something and they get tunnel vision. They invest hours, weeks, years on something and to them it is going to be the next big thing that will get the girl, kill the baddies... and save the entire planet[1]. But guess what? Sometimes... sometimes... it really is just shit. Sorry to tell you this but your idea sucks... or the execution sucks... or both. [strawman alert] If all you want to hear is how awesome it is, then go show it to your mum. I'm sure she'll tell you how special you are and that you can do no wrong.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aD3XSOBCxk