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Expressing incredulity and frustration at the obtuseness of someone's complaint doesn't seem especially useless to me. Why is expressing emotional reactions po

Expressing incredulity and frustration at the obtuseness of someone's complaint doesn't seem especially useless to me. Why is expressing emotional reactions pointless, in your mind? Doing so gives everyone more information about the reactions they might expect to their concerns... it enforces social norms, etc.

chaostheory 9y ago
> Why is expressing emotional reactions pointless, in your mind? Doing so gives everyone more information about the reactions they might expect to their concerns The problem is that the comment provides nothing else. You can do the same thing in a more civil and constructive way. Just look at your comments. You are providing logic and rationale for your argument. I don't agree with you, but you're adding to the discussion. Now compare that to "I'm sick of you people. Stop whining about other people's comments you big baby". Someone can correct me, but that doesn't belong here and that rule has been around since the beginning of HN. It's been written and clear along with the reasons why. It's the way things have been done here. If someone doesn't like it, they can post on reddit instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html "Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say face-to-face. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3.'"
- Danihan 9y ago
  I don't disagree that the comment is probably against the rules. I just believe the rules tend to stifle people from expressing how they truly feel about topics, and are therefore information limiting and generally a net loss. It's a fine line. Some people's feelings are toxic all the time and wrong-headed and truly add nothing of value. Other people, when they have a negative emotional reaction there is probably a lot of accumulated wisdom behind it and you should really listen instead of censoring or rambling on about civility. Very subjective though. Also, in my opinion, the constant suppression of any negative speech is exactly what gets someone like Trump elected. "Finally, someone on TV is saying what I FEEL and no one can stop him!"
  - chaostheory 9y ago
    To stay on point, my argument is that the rules are clear and they make sense. There are emotional comments on HN that are fine. However they are different. The particular comment we're referring is toxic and adds nothing to the actual discussion; there's no wisdom to calling someone a 'baby'. The only thing it promotes is a flame war since it personally insults someone. It shuts down discussion because it needlessly attempts to piss off someone. There were plenty of other comments that were both critical, insightful, and civil.

chaostheory 9y ago

> Why is expressing emotional reactions pointless, in your mind? Doing so gives everyone more information about the reactions they might expect to their concerns The problem is that the comment provides nothing else. You can do the same thing in a more civil and constructive way. Just look at your comments. You are providing logic and rationale for your argument. I don't agree with you, but you're adding to the discussion. Now compare that to "I'm sick of you people. Stop whining about other people's comments you big baby". Someone can correct me, but that doesn't belong here and that rule has been around since the beginning of HN. It's been written and clear along with the reasons why. It's the way things have been done here. If someone doesn't like it, they can post on reddit instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html "Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say face-to-face. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. 'That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3' can be shortened to '1 + 1 is 2, not 3.'"

Danihan 9y ago
I don't disagree that the comment is probably against the rules. I just believe the rules tend to stifle people from expressing how they truly feel about topics, and are therefore information limiting and generally a net loss. It's a fine line. Some people's feelings are toxic all the time and wrong-headed and truly add nothing of value. Other people, when they have a negative emotional reaction there is probably a lot of accumulated wisdom behind it and you should really listen instead of censoring or rambling on about civility. Very subjective though. Also, in my opinion, the constant suppression of any negative speech is exactly what gets someone like Trump elected. "Finally, someone on TV is saying what I FEEL and no one can stop him!"
- chaostheory 9y ago
  To stay on point, my argument is that the rules are clear and they make sense. There are emotional comments on HN that are fine. However they are different. The particular comment we're referring is toxic and adds nothing to the actual discussion; there's no wisdom to calling someone a 'baby'. The only thing it promotes is a flame war since it personally insults someone. It shuts down discussion because it needlessly attempts to piss off someone. There were plenty of other comments that were both critical, insightful, and civil.