Ask HN: Why's there a high concentration of assholes on StackExchange | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why's there a high concentration of assholes on StackExchange

4 pointsJugurtha7 comments

And don't pull that "Hackers are mean" bull crap, I've been a member of forums and mailing lists for frigging years and I've come to notice that it's ironically posers who'll be sarcastic and mean, thinking that makes them good (same way broke people display money thinking it makes them look well off).

What I noticed is this:

People on forums and mailing lists I belong to, want to help you solve the problem. They're genuinely interested in the technical thing. If you're new and you make a mistake, they'll point out a better place to ask your question, resources, etc.

If it's a beginner's question, again, resources. And if he's looked up stuff, they'll help him even more. Pages and pages of awesome people going with complete beginners, not one second making them feel embarrassed to ask even the most trivial of questions.

I've almost never had a "smartass" answer (French speaking forums are almost exclusively packed with smartasses, hence me learning English and never been happier).

People on StackExchange (a lot) on the other hand, want to look smart and talk in a condescending way.

From my experience: There is no such thing as a stupid question. A lot of people assume that a certain answer is probably the right answer, even though it's not.. And I admire this ignorant sourced confidence.

An answer of mine was edited by someone just to gain some frigging "editor" points or whatever (My answer text was in an image. What did that guy edit beats me, because what can that genius change after all).

Any of you have experience of this ? Like the really smart people I met and communicated with have that humble thing going on for them. But I see a lot of cute answers on there.

People with no significant accomplishments or recognition in the real world look desperately to fill the void online. See forum moderators[0]. 49 out of 50 moderators are cretins and know-it-alls.

I still use StackOverflow a lot but I hesitate to ask questions in some tags because of the losers who pounce at the chance to sound superior.

[0] - http://i.imgur.com/QW4lN.jpg

:D

Heck, well I'd respect if someone were good at one thing.

I have some weak spots because I sort of drifted away to seek pleasures of life. You get good at what you repeatedly do. Part of me would like to trade that with being a great coder and bang code at will. The other part kind of likes banging chicks at will.

Now I decided to get serious and solidify my weak coding skills, networking stuff. The good benefit is that I know all the concepts, etc. I just didn't have working code. I can make a simple thing. Never started a "real" project, for I haven't had something that matters to me.

Now I have. I started doing it. Little by little.

When a system is gamified some people take this too serious. They see karma, points, credits - you name it - as something which holds real value and will do anything to obtain it. Though it might help with generating involvement, some people cannot resist the urge to play the game at all cost, even if that requires them to be an asshole.

The problem is the gaming system on the StackExchange-network which some people take too serious.

I hear you, I have -2 karma in HN because someone thought one of my answers was silly or disrespectful, for which I apologise, and I must admit that there is a part of me that wants to find a way to get into positive karma again, what for? Even if I had -1000000 karma I could still read HN, I guess we all want to be important or seem important somewhere and there is a whole range between null, moderate and extreme need for feeling validated/recognised by others in order to boost self-esteem. Tragically, being an @$$ to users than seem less knowledgable is one way of feeling better about yourself.. Isn't it easier just to be nice and feel happy to help ?

My stock advice, treat downvotes as editorial feedback on the quality of your writing and edit your post to more clearly express your ideas and observations. Add background details which explain your rationales. Expand the content of the thread with links or other references to more information.

If none of those things are applicable, you are probably just expressing a reactive sentiment, as was the case with your downvoted comment. In that case consider deleting the post - actually don't wait for a down vote, the comment is likely to add little.

The long and short of it is take a down vote as feedback which can make you a better writer. To put it another way, while I agree that focusing on stock price in the wake of tragic death is crass, calling people out on it with snark doesn't really contribute to the community.

I had negative karma and I deserved it for being a retard on some occasions.

And you never feel as good as yourself as when the other person walks out of the discussion with a solid comprehension after a give and take with you. Nothing beats that. So even if you're doing it for the ego, talking down to someone is a nickle, compared with the equity you have sharing the knowledge with someone else.

One of the best lessons I've learned is this one: You learn so much teaching and explaining to others, you wouldn't even believe.

You always neglect an area of a topic because you find it "trivial", or "easy". Your brain tricked you into thinking you understand it. (I had this when I started was learning English. I was able to read books and understand, I watched movies and understood.. But it's only when I started to interact with other English speakers that it became obvious I sucked at articulating my thoughts. It was hard. And it's not like I didn't understand English, but writing and talking was something else). Knowing is something. Doing is another.

I've had the privilege to tutor a lot of my classmates, the benefit is that they ask questions you haven't asked, for you've taken a concept or another for granted. This pushes you to deepen your knowledge enough to master it and be able to explain it from a gazillion angles until you lock in an angle from which things seem clear to the other person.

So when they say: "Thank you a lot for taking the time !", I'm thinking :"Thank you".

You'd never be able to do that with only your own perspective. (perceptual positions, coming...)

I use that approach too learning about something. I take all assumptions from the table and go slightly schizophrenic: One personality is "dumb" and "newb", the other tries to explain things. It's one of the greatest exercises provided you take out assumptions. You detail every thing until it's rock solid.

Most advanced users can explain advanced concepts to beginners, that's how you recognize them. They have a solid basis. And if the topic is really complex, the beginner at least grasps the concept of it.

Like I hang out in Python's mailing lists (I also was on Perl's) and I'm in Electronics' forums (ETO, mainly) and you wouldn't believe the effort the most senior users there take to make sure people understand a concept. Many uses, big fat posts detailing not only a fix to the problem, but how to think about it.

I agree with this 100%. I'd say at least 50% of questions on StackExchange sites are closed as non-constructive or the like. That number might be way off, but that's what it feels like to me. Much of the important questions are closed because the mods consider them useless, even when the users might not. I've been blocked from 2 StackExchange sites, and I hadn't asked more than 1 question on both of them, and they weren't noob questions either. I've noticed this that when communities, forums, heck, even IRC channels get too crowded, know-it-alls and self-proclaimed gods become a major part of the community, and they don't think twice about calling the newcomer stupid or worthless. They think this makes them look smart or wise, but really, it only makes them look like an asshole.

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