4 ms·

Whilst I agree with the sentiment, I'm not sure what's so great about this blog post. John - you can write productive, constructive, informative and even inspir

by swombat 16y ago

Whilst I agree with the sentiment, I'm not sure what's so great about this blog post. John - you can write productive, constructive, informative and even inspiring blog posts. This is not it. Please write more of your other kinds of blog posts. This post is no more worthy of praise than the tweets it quotes.

jgrahamc 16y ago
I understand. People always want me to be "productive, constructive, informative and even inspiring". Every once in a while I also like to bitch. Another important consideration is that in order to write lots of blog posts (some of which you have enjoyed) I have to write a lot. Some will be hits, others misses. But I can't only write the good ones, I have to write to practice and to keep the flow.
- acangiano 16y ago
  > People always want me to be "productive, constructive, informative and even inspiring". They can't complain, they aren't paying for it. ;-)
- davidw 16y ago
  That's what drinks in the piazza/bar/whatever are for, no? I guess the fault lies with whoever voted it up.
  - Nate75Sanders 16y ago
    My guess is that the upvotes are more about telling people who have social media codependency to shut up rather than the particular rant about how they're bitching about something they're not paying for, but I could be wrong. I'm sick of the social media explosion and will be glad when most of this crap dies and we're left with a few players that allow me to have meaningful exchanges or keep up with people, etc.
  - jgrahamc 16y ago
    HN is my piazza
    - davidw 16y ago
      You should come visit a real one here in Italy - drinks are on me, and it's a lot more fun than HN in many ways. If you want to expense it in terms of research for cool geek things, Padova was Galileo's home for the 'happiest years of his life', and there is a tower he supposedly used for observations. Also, the first operating theater was built in Padova in 1594. Other illustrious people associated with the University here include Fallopio (yes, that one), and Federico Faggin - pulled out of my head at random.
- thorax 16y ago
  Early morning devil's advocacy: Why are you allowed to complain about other people's free content? You weren't paying for the content they provided where they complained about outages, surely? Or was a mild irony an intended part of the article? In addition, if they are being "used", shouldn't they vote with their feet to be "used" by another site (read: evil boyfriend) that treats them better and gives them shinier things? The first step in that is voicing their discontent so other suitors get the hint. /advocacy For what it's worth, I also much prefer your less negative articles-- more hit than miss usually. But, well... I can't complain.
  - jgrahamc 16y ago
    Don't worry, I've got plenty of other interesting things to write about. Normal (expected) service will be resumed shortly.
    - swombat 16y ago
      In the meantime, we are all complaining about the downtime in normal services.
      - jgrahamc 16y ago
        That made me laugh. I've got the message! :-)
  - Goronmon 16y ago
    Why are you allowed to complain about other people's free content? Are you suggesting he is not allowed? If time is money, then time spent using a service is still an investment made in that service regardless of any currency changing hands. Plus, making a free service doesn't make you immune from criticism.
    - thorax 16y ago
      > Are you suggesting he is not allowed? You misunderstand-- that line comes from shifting the original author's opinion back at his own complaint. The devil's advocate I channeled doesn't really have an opinion of its own. The point is that it's somewhat worth noting that complaining about someone else's complaints hints at self-contradiction. [Aside: I guess sometimes other people use the "devil's advocate" voice for their own opinions? Not in my circles-- it's always used for giving a view that may be contrary (or different) from your own for logical discussions and/or debate.] Certainly I personally have no opinion/say on what he's allowed to talk about. Though I do admit a preference for positive or neutral topics over negative ones.
- ajscherer 16y ago
  People complaining on the internet is probably the one problem least likely to be alleviated via complaints on the internet. Furthermore, any argument you can construct about why its okay to complain about people complaining would apply equally to the original complainers (it's not like you were paying for them not to complain). Just like in WarGames the only sensible strategy is to not participate.
- thomas11 16y ago
  This an honest question: why do you have the goal to write "lots of blog posts", as opposed to focusing on quality and/or fun? Regarding your recent Ask HN about monetizing your blog that made you remove the ads, that can't be the reason.
  - jgrahamc 16y ago
    I write to practice writing, not for ads (as you rightly say I dropped all external advertising from the site). I think you have to keep writing to get better at it and I don't believe it's an always monotonically increasing process of quality. Sometimes there'll be misses. That's not to say I post anything. I doubt you care about my opinion of Katie Price.

by swombat 16y ago

jgrahamc 16y ago

I understand. People always want me to be "productive, constructive, informative and even inspiring". Every once in a while I also like to bitch. Another important consideration is that in order to write lots of blog posts (some of which you have enjoyed) I have to write a lot. Some will be hits, others misses. But I can't only write the good ones, I have to write to practice and to keep the flow.

acangiano 16y ago
> People always want me to be "productive, constructive, informative and even inspiring". They can't complain, they aren't paying for it. ;-)
davidw 16y ago
That's what drinks in the piazza/bar/whatever are for, no? I guess the fault lies with whoever voted it up.
- Nate75Sanders 16y ago
  My guess is that the upvotes are more about telling people who have social media codependency to shut up rather than the particular rant about how they're bitching about something they're not paying for, but I could be wrong. I'm sick of the social media explosion and will be glad when most of this crap dies and we're left with a few players that allow me to have meaningful exchanges or keep up with people, etc.
- jgrahamc 16y ago
  HN is my piazza
  - davidw 16y ago
    You should come visit a real one here in Italy - drinks are on me, and it's a lot more fun than HN in many ways. If you want to expense it in terms of research for cool geek things, Padova was Galileo's home for the 'happiest years of his life', and there is a tower he supposedly used for observations. Also, the first operating theater was built in Padova in 1594. Other illustrious people associated with the University here include Fallopio (yes, that one), and Federico Faggin - pulled out of my head at random.
thorax 16y ago
Early morning devil's advocacy: Why are you allowed to complain about other people's free content? You weren't paying for the content they provided where they complained about outages, surely? Or was a mild irony an intended part of the article? In addition, if they are being "used", shouldn't they vote with their feet to be "used" by another site (read: evil boyfriend) that treats them better and gives them shinier things? The first step in that is voicing their discontent so other suitors get the hint. /advocacy For what it's worth, I also much prefer your less negative articles-- more hit than miss usually. But, well... I can't complain.
- jgrahamc 16y ago
  Don't worry, I've got plenty of other interesting things to write about. Normal (expected) service will be resumed shortly.
  - swombat 16y ago
    In the meantime, we are all complaining about the downtime in normal services.
    - jgrahamc 16y ago
      That made me laugh. I've got the message! :-)
- Goronmon 16y ago
  Why are you allowed to complain about other people's free content? Are you suggesting he is not allowed? If time is money, then time spent using a service is still an investment made in that service regardless of any currency changing hands. Plus, making a free service doesn't make you immune from criticism.
  - thorax 16y ago
    > Are you suggesting he is not allowed? You misunderstand-- that line comes from shifting the original author's opinion back at his own complaint. The devil's advocate I channeled doesn't really have an opinion of its own. The point is that it's somewhat worth noting that complaining about someone else's complaints hints at self-contradiction. [Aside: I guess sometimes other people use the "devil's advocate" voice for their own opinions? Not in my circles-- it's always used for giving a view that may be contrary (or different) from your own for logical discussions and/or debate.] Certainly I personally have no opinion/say on what he's allowed to talk about. Though I do admit a preference for positive or neutral topics over negative ones.
ajscherer 16y ago
People complaining on the internet is probably the one problem least likely to be alleviated via complaints on the internet. Furthermore, any argument you can construct about why its okay to complain about people complaining would apply equally to the original complainers (it's not like you were paying for them not to complain). Just like in WarGames the only sensible strategy is to not participate.
thomas11 16y ago
This an honest question: why do you have the goal to write "lots of blog posts", as opposed to focusing on quality and/or fun? Regarding your recent Ask HN about monetizing your blog that made you remove the ads, that can't be the reason.
- jgrahamc 16y ago
  I write to practice writing, not for ads (as you rightly say I dropped all external advertising from the site). I think you have to keep writing to get better at it and I don't believe it's an always monotonically increasing process of quality. Sometimes there'll be misses. That's not to say I post anything. I doubt you care about my opinion of Katie Price.