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There are a set of converging interests causing pain in the ecosystem. First a company promoting a project, then people hoping to provide services, consulting o

by throw2016 8y ago

There are a set of converging interests causing pain in the ecosystem. First a company promoting a project, then people hoping to provide services, consulting or training, and third people hoping to get a job or padding their current resumes. None of these people have a particular interest in the technology or its merit, its anything they can make money or benefit from and then forums like HN and others are used to aggressively push out these technologies. By the time people start catching on about flaws, over-engineering or needless complexity the latter 2 groups have already moved on to something new. Rinse and repeat and HN is very much a part of this. There is very little tolerance for skepticism and proper scrutiny of anything 'new' and in the hype train. These are usually dismissed with ad hominems about 'grey beards' or people 'scared' of change. Since everything is so 'new and cutting edge' there is no respect for any authority or experience and scrutiny becomes impossible. And since self interest is involved the arguments become needlessly charged.

mmt 8y ago
I assume that observation applies to more than just front-end development. At least I've personally seen the effect more generally. I think another self-interested actor is the "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" manager, except that, today, it's not IBM. IBM has, of course, been replaced by whichever technology is currently in high repute. They need never gain technical knowledge themselves. Granted, in some cases, that's actually a case of legitimate delegation to their engineers (whose conflicting interests you've addressed), but, since they have the same access to the Internet as everyone else, that can't be assumed. > And since self interest is involved the arguments become needlessly charged. I hadn't fully considered that until now. That isn't to say that I'm not a cynic, but, rather, that, for example, the average HN commenter may not want to come to terms with having, even to a slight degree, such self interest. That can lead a form of needlessly charged argument, defensiveness, that wouldn't necessarily be obvious otherwise. In a professional setting, it can lead to seemingly-irrational decisions in the face of overwhelming evidence that the other way is better.

mmt 8y ago

I assume that observation applies to more than just front-end development. At least I've personally seen the effect more generally. I think another self-interested actor is the "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" manager, except that, today, it's not IBM. IBM has, of course, been replaced by whichever technology is currently in high repute. They need never gain technical knowledge themselves. Granted, in some cases, that's actually a case of legitimate delegation to their engineers (whose conflicting interests you've addressed), but, since they have the same access to the Internet as everyone else, that can't be assumed. > And since self interest is involved the arguments become needlessly charged. I hadn't fully considered that until now. That isn't to say that I'm not a cynic, but, rather, that, for example, the average HN commenter may not want to come to terms with having, even to a slight degree, such self interest. That can lead a form of needlessly charged argument, defensiveness, that wouldn't necessarily be obvious otherwise. In a professional setting, it can lead to seemingly-irrational decisions in the face of overwhelming evidence that the other way is better.