Comment by wtvanhest | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wtvanhest | Hacker News Reader

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Actually, the nicest thing about HN for me is that I get to see my words evaluated on their own merit rather than what people know about me. HN has made me a better thinker and better communicator. Over the past year or so that I have contributed, I have clearly seen the way my thoughts diverge from the reality of what others believe. Sometimes I disagree and stop convincing people, other times I present arguments which are stubborn, but backed up.

You took the time to write a long essay, and present a novel idea. A lot of posters here disagree with you, but the mindset on HN has been to build first ask questions later. Convincing people in a single day to change their world view would be a huge undertaking regardless of whether you are thinking about it correctly or not.

And that is probably a good way to filter through the million monkeys.

But some topics would require entire books to present in a context free way, this is one of them, and I don't have the time and money to write that book, so you will have to make do with a column @ACM.

When I read something, and have the nagging feeling that there is context I'm missing, I go looking for that context, usually starting with "who the heck wrote this", rather than assume that the writer is a clueless bozo.

But whatever blows your hair back buddy...

I enjoyed your post, but I also understand why people hated it. They hated it because you presented an idea that is completely at odds with the way many HN readers think. Then, rather than sitting back and watching the discussion you became offended and went on an aggressive warpath.

You didn’t even consider that what I wrote was meant as a complement to the fact that you are taking a view that no one else currently takes. An idea that has real merit and is worth discussion. You took my comment as an insult and wrote:

“But whatever blows your hair back buddy...”

That is not an insult in my book.

To me it means: If you're happy what you're doing, then who am I to tell you're wrong ?

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