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I've been here for more than a year, so I hope the general public will not mind me voicing a concern. In my opinion, something unwelcome is happening in the las

I've been here for more than a year, so I hope the general public will not mind me voicing a concern. In my opinion, something unwelcome is happening in the last couple of days. I think there even was a pun thread the other day...with upvotes. Being a lurker by nature, I don't possess the power of the down arrow or the flag, so let me just say that now is not a good time to let these tools lay idle.

jrockway 16y ago
What's the problem with this comment specifically? Instead of saying "HN sux, everyone behave differently", why not just disagree with the comment? I will argue both sides. For: "It's a good point; at some point biology has to take over and break your concentration. Did they have bathroom breaks and not mention it? Were they so focused that they couldn't hear their body telling them to let it out? Did they just go in a bottle right there?" Intersting point, jrockway! Against: "I think the point of this story was not to literally describe the exact events that took place over the 10 hours they were working together. They took breaks. They got some lunch and made some coffee. But that part isn't very interesting to talk about, and neither of them remember it because it was so meaningless in the context of what they were doing. But yes, they used the bathroom. Glad that that's all you could think about." See how I could argue either side and I didn't have to mention HN at all? If I disagreed, other people would see that and upmod me and realize that the OP's comment didn't have much relevance. If I agreed, other people might think, "hey, this OP guy is insightful". You can control how comments are moderated and how the conversation flows. But you have to put more effort into it than just saying "HN is dying, OH NOES".
- mquander 16y ago
  The point is that both of those responses, as well as the original remark, are completely inane and boring. If a person reads this anecdote and the only thing he has to say about it is a commentary on bathroom breaks, then I wish that person would resist the urge to post his thoughts.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    More inane or less inane than meta-talk? If all a person has to say about an article is about how badly HN sucks, then I wish that person would resist the urge to post his thoughts. As GlaDOS says: "We both know that isn't going to happen."
    - mquander 16y ago
      Well, I downvoted that guy too, for feeding the troll. It went without saying that the original comment was lousy.

jrockway 16y ago

What's the problem with this comment specifically? Instead of saying "HN sux, everyone behave differently", why not just disagree with the comment? I will argue both sides. For: "It's a good point; at some point biology has to take over and break your concentration. Did they have bathroom breaks and not mention it? Were they so focused that they couldn't hear their body telling them to let it out? Did they just go in a bottle right there?" Intersting point, jrockway! Against: "I think the point of this story was not to literally describe the exact events that took place over the 10 hours they were working together. They took breaks. They got some lunch and made some coffee. But that part isn't very interesting to talk about, and neither of them remember it because it was so meaningless in the context of what they were doing. But yes, they used the bathroom. Glad that that's all you could think about." See how I could argue either side and I didn't have to mention HN at all? If I disagreed, other people would see that and upmod me and realize that the OP's comment didn't have much relevance. If I agreed, other people might think, "hey, this OP guy is insightful". You can control how comments are moderated and how the conversation flows. But you have to put more effort into it than just saying "HN is dying, OH NOES".

mquander 16y ago
The point is that both of those responses, as well as the original remark, are completely inane and boring. If a person reads this anecdote and the only thing he has to say about it is a commentary on bathroom breaks, then I wish that person would resist the urge to post his thoughts.
- jrockway 16y ago
  More inane or less inane than meta-talk? If all a person has to say about an article is about how badly HN sucks, then I wish that person would resist the urge to post his thoughts. As GlaDOS says: "We both know that isn't going to happen."
  - mquander 16y ago
    Well, I downvoted that guy too, for feeding the troll. It went without saying that the original comment was lousy.