The worst thing about this exchange is that you seem to honestly, actually not understand why people are having problems with you. You don't need to respond to this, but if you really totally don't understand why people are reacting badly to you here, it would probably be good for you to try reading some basic interpersonal self-help stuff like "How to Win Friends and Influence People", or to ask someone you know and trust whether they think you have an excessively abrasive/confrontational style.

Or maybe you're just having a bad day, in which case, hope it improves, chill, try not to get caught up in arguments when you're already pissed off (I know I do that and come off as a jerk sometimes).

When the entire world thinks you are the asshole, it is worth stopping and considering the possibility that they may be right.

No you definitely are being an asshole, it is you who needs to stay classy, maybe get a fresh nights sleep wake up with some nice coffee and review your statements.

I haven't, and won't, 'name you names'. You could have given a nice technical explanation of what Carmack did without having to call the person 'delusional', saying they started with 'pessimisation' then further going on to belittle them by saying you'll 'explain with less words'. Even after they go further and say their programming was a goto spaghetti hell made in 2005 as he was learning to program, you keep trying to brow beat him with your decades of knowledge and experience.

Why are you angry at him? I thought the main point of the fine article wasn't just about the technical details, but also the fact that they wouldn't give up. Would you rather that he had seen his flickering game and just say 'Aw screw it, programming is crappy!' and walk away?

Or do you want a signed and printed statement of your 'absolute' rightness, a full retraction from him never to compare himself with Carmack again and pg to come into this thread and strike down his comment from the top and relegate it to the bottom of the page until he spends years learning what people knew 30 years ago?

Most of the people here understood what you were discussing. My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81, and I remember well those magazines you brought up.

But you were really rude the way you were discussing it, and quite frankly, you were calling him names, unless you think that delusional is a nice way to refer to someone.

And yes, my email is in my profile if you do want to email me privately and call me names.

Think about all the personal and professional feedback you've received over your entire life. Have you ever been told you're too curt, abrasive, or aggressive? Has anyone told you that what you say is fine, but how you say it alienates or frustrates people? Do you feel like people avoid interacting with you or generally bring up issues (especially personal issues) with other people well before they bring them up with you? Do you feel like you're constantly being misunderstood or that people are taking what you're saying the wrong way? Do you often find yourself rationalizing the impact your words have by telling yourself other people are too sensitive, too stupid, or too deluded to hear what you're saying?

Because right now, that's what's happening. And unless this is a particularly off day, I'd be astonished if you haven't had this reflected to you before by friends, family, and/or co-workers.

You're 100% right on the technical merits. Everybody here understands what you're saying and agrees with you — nobody cares. It seems like you're going out of your way to humiliate the original commenter for no good reason, e.g., by calling him delusional, even after he admitted that he understood what he did in high school in no way rose to the level of what Carmack did.

The OC was describing the sensation vindication and pride he felt when he figured something out on his own and later learned that a more advanced version of same idea already had a name. This is a feeling most programmers can relate to, I think. I only learned what a "trie" was, for example, years after I implemented a shitty version on my own.

Whatever your intentions are, you have to understand the impact your words have. And in this thread, at least, it's not pretty.