Hacker News Reader

Comment by nmjohn | Hacker News Reader

How are you all of you supposedly smart people (you're on hackernews - does that not mean anything anymore?) making such baseless and ignorant comments?

If you don't have a degree in a related field or haven't spent any amount of time studying disease (and no, Pandemic the game does not count) you have NO BUSINESS making comments on the preparedness of the US healthcare system - or on how the disease may affect anything.

All you are doing is spreading FUD - you are acting like Fox News and it is downright shameful.

View on HN

Don't you think its a little pretentious to imply those that browse Hacker News are somehow smarter than others in a comment on Hacker News?

If you have a legitimate criticism of any of these posts feel free to reply. Better yet, post the type of well-researched article you yearn for on here (you commented on this thread so I assume you have experience in studying disease).

> Don't you think its a little pretentious to imply those that browse Hacker News are somehow smarter than others in a comment on Hacker News?

No. Some people are smarter than others - that's a fact. Hacker news consists of technical discussions on complex topics. Those kind of discussions tend to draw in more intelligent people. Therefore, I have no problem concluding that hn readers are likely to be more intelligent than average.

Be thankful the topic isn't mental illness.

People should be able to critically appraise the source of the comments.

I love how you're complaining about people posting without authority, meanwhile not providing a reason that we should listen. Can you say hypocrite?

You don't have to be an authority to criticize others for speaking about a topic in which they likely have zero expertise.

proof of lack of expertise? Oh right, there is none. You don't know someones credentials over the internet. Unless you maybe divine them somehow

"Likely" is the word you seemed to have overlooked.

I didn't overlook anything, but I'm also not under the illusion that Hacker News is a peer reviewed journal. Hacker News doesn't require anything of a commentator, the only requirements are on content.

Unless you can magically ascertain the qualifications, or lack thereof, of someone, maybe you should only criticize on the content of their comments?

> I love how you're complaining about people posting without authority, meanwhile not providing a reason that we should listen. Can you say hypocrite?

There is not even an ounce of hypocrisy.

I didn't make any claims of the US preparedness, nor did I say anything about how the disease may or may not spread. If I was going to do that I would only do so if I had research to back it up with - and I am about to get in the car to drive to dinner with my family so I don't have time to read a bunch of journal articles.

First off, how do you know the credentials of ANYONE commenting? My "profile" doesn't have any information relating to my degrees, my work history, or anything else.

Saying people need a degree to comment is a complete joke. I can make whatever comment I want, regardless of my experience. Get over yourself dude.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com