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Comment by axod | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, I think parents/friends give blind support and encouragment. HN/peers/tech community should give complete honesty. If that means saying "That idea is terrible" so be it.

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I agree, but there's a big difference between honest, polite feedback and negativity, meanness, or just good old-fashioned flaming.

HN is pretty good in this respect. Reddit is still decent, though it can definitely lean towards mean. YouTube / app store reviews... forget any chance of respect.

Since the net is so wast, people feel they have to shout loud with profanity to get heard. Alot of times they are right.

There's also this:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

Complete honesty can be simple, direct, and if not exactly nice to hear, certainly not mean-spirited in tone.

That's quite different from the style of "oh my god what a bunch of fucking idiots these guys are, ha ha ha". It's a cheap, easy way to get some laughs (see: Ted Dziuba) but I'm not really a fan.

sure, but if you're making money and having fun, other peoples opinion shouldn't really matter.

It seems to be popular at the moment to laugh at Justin Beiber online and say how much you hate him. But he's the one making millions out of teenage girls...

Who is hoping to gain from the public ridicule? I doubt it is the target.

With this in mind, it would be wise to direct critical feedback privately to the creator. I believe feedback delivered directly and privately is more likely to see the desired change.

Praise in public, criticise in private.

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