I realized that people who stand around the window watching the construction workers are not actually doing anything useful. Although they feel like they are ha

I realized that people who stand around the window watching the construction workers are not actually doing anything useful. Although they feel like they are having a blast. Whoah. Feeling like you are having a blast is useful. This isn't a sweatshop. There are a lot of solitary software engineers out there - either freelancers or people embedded in a "regular" office setting or people surrounded by programmers who really don't like coding (hard to believe, I know!). "Virtual" watercoolers like HN do serve a social function and there's nothing shameful about it. The only downside is that there is an implicit timer for watercooler chats, whereas it is possible to dip in and out of HN all day. Well, if that is a problem for somebody, they know where to find the procrastination setting. Obviously with any community, after you have been around it long enough you can get the "ok I've heard everything" feeling. In which case it is quite natural to move on, but that doesn't mean the community is worthless, just that you have extracted all the value you could out of it.