Yeah me too but to be fair technical users (we're on HN) are probably not the target end users for the product that integrates this.

I think they are good when you can both skip them and do them later. Usually you can skip them but rarely can I find a way to restart it once I’ve decided I want to commit the energy to learn the app.

Depends on use case. When onboarding a user, it saves support emails when people can't figure out how to fulfill basic use cases. It also highlights new features that don't deserve main screen real estate but are requested.

It's only annoying when it's pointing out the obvious.

Usually feels like a crutch for bad design, but some products just have a certain level of complexity

When it comes to UI concepts I've seen this and popups about downloading the app and email lists and downloading the app and following them on social media and downloading the app called "the nag" a couple of times probably because calling it the "fuckyou" is too many letters.

There isn't a fine line between helpful and hostile, there's a big honking obvious one with flashing lights and sirens on it.

An alternative I saw not too long ago was an app with a sort of "discovery" button. By clicking it, anything you click afterwards will be explained and tutorialized a bit.

So if you want to jump in right away, you can. But if you go "What does THAT button do? What is THIS menu for?" it's great. It goes more at the users pace rather than bombarding them with info.

No, but also a lot of users enjoy them. It's like marmite, you either love it or hate it.

Also note that most product managers love them.

Quite often they are a symptom of a UI that isn't descriptive to particularly discoverable.

Most HN users likely do. But HN users are not representative of overall population.

Should be optional and you should be able to start it if needed.