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This has been a HackerNews phenomenon for years. The default stance of HackerNews is contrarian.

afarrell 8y ago
Which is a genuinely useful stance in the case of products—pointing out why someone’s startup won’t work does them the service of laying out potential failure modes.
bostonpete 8y ago
No it's not. (j/k, sorry) As a testament to this, I usually check the comments before clicking through to an article. As a result I virtually never click through to the article -- I just end up reading all the reasons it's wrong.
- ianai 8y ago
  That suggests it’s a cultural meme in self service.
- skwog 8y ago
  Tend to follow that pattern too. Also reminds me of an anecdote. Talking with a tech VP from a telco recently, I offer an opinion to advance the discussion and his response was simply “No, that’s wrong, you’re so wrong.” Period, full stop. End of discussion, no explanation, no offer of what direction he might agree with. All that mattered was that I was wrong and that he had the right answer. Great talk.
wenc 8y ago
At its best HN is critical and discerning, which are necessary qualities for raising the discourse to a higher intellectual plane (otherwise this would just be Reddit). At its worst it is cynical and contrarian. Those are flip sides of the same coin. HN is like UChicago. Cerebral, academic, rigorous and always ready to shoot down sloppy thinking. Quora is more like Northwestern. Intelligent, emotionally savvy, and projects a sense of polish.
- brian-armstrong 8y ago
  HN does not have a strict, unbiased critical thinking. If it did it might be more acceptable. The worst of HN is when it tries to bear critcism on a topic or subject that it inherently disagrees with and wants to be untrue (even when it probably is true).
  - wenc 8y ago
    You may have missed the first sentence I wrote. HN has two modes. There is a thin line between critical and contrarian, and HN has good days and bad days.

Which is a genuinely useful stance in the case of products—pointing out why someone’s startup won’t work does them the service of laying out potential failure modes.

bostonpete 8y ago

No it's not. (j/k, sorry) As a testament to this, I usually check the comments before clicking through to an article. As a result I virtually never click through to the article -- I just end up reading all the reasons it's wrong.

ianai 8y ago
That suggests it’s a cultural meme in self service.
skwog 8y ago
Tend to follow that pattern too. Also reminds me of an anecdote. Talking with a tech VP from a telco recently, I offer an opinion to advance the discussion and his response was simply “No, that’s wrong, you’re so wrong.” Period, full stop. End of discussion, no explanation, no offer of what direction he might agree with. All that mattered was that I was wrong and that he had the right answer. Great talk.

wenc 8y ago

At its best HN is critical and discerning, which are necessary qualities for raising the discourse to a higher intellectual plane (otherwise this would just be Reddit). At its worst it is cynical and contrarian. Those are flip sides of the same coin. HN is like UChicago. Cerebral, academic, rigorous and always ready to shoot down sloppy thinking. Quora is more like Northwestern. Intelligent, emotionally savvy, and projects a sense of polish.

brian-armstrong 8y ago
HN does not have a strict, unbiased critical thinking. If it did it might be more acceptable. The worst of HN is when it tries to bear critcism on a topic or subject that it inherently disagrees with and wants to be untrue (even when it probably is true).
- wenc 8y ago
  You may have missed the first sentence I wrote. HN has two modes. There is a thin line between critical and contrarian, and HN has good days and bad days.