4 ms·

Leading with an accusation of substance abuse isn't civil or productive. Your comment may well be factually correct, but your tone here is inappropriate. http

by jpk 8y ago

Leading with an accusation of substance abuse isn't civil or productive. Your comment may well be factually correct, but your tone here is inappropriate. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

gamblor956 8y ago
It's not an accusation of drug use. "What are you smoking" is a US colloquialism that means that one's statement is so nonsensical that the most logical explanation is that the speaker was smoking marijuana at the time the statement was made (because the implied alternative is that the speaker is crazy or quite daft).
- majewsky 8y ago
  Please keep in mind though that this is not strictly a US site. To me (as an experienced, but non-native speaker) "what are you smoking" does not sound tongue-in-cheek at all.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    Please keep in mind that this site is operated by a US VC, on US hardware and software, for a US audience residing in a few tech-centric US cities. US colloquialisms are perfectly appropriate on this site.
    - AsyncAwait 8y ago
      > Please keep in mind that this site is operated by a US VC, on US hardware and software, for a US audience residing in a few tech-centric US cities. And funded by a Brit :-) Honestly, that's not how today's world works. Sites like Reddit and HN obviously have an international audience. It is not meant for people from tech-centric U.S. cities, but rather to be a sort of sales channel for YC, which BTW has well-known companies founded by non-Americans on its list, such as Gitlab, Stripe etc. > on US hardware and software Really? Are you sure there's not a line of free/open-source in there that's written by a non American? It runs on Linux, I presume, who's creator is Finnish and there are many non-U.S. contributors. If there's NGINX somewhere in the pipeline, now you're got some Kazakhstani/Russian code in there. If any part was ever touched by a JetBrains IDE, more evil Russians were involved etc. Please keep the nationalistic rhetoric down. P.S. Did you know that paper is a Chinese technology? Yeah, the same Chinese who keep the U.S. down by hyping climate change! I hope you're not using it! \s
      - yellowapple 8y ago
        "It runs on Linux, I presume, who's creator is Finnish" Who currently lives and works in the United States, last I checked. Not to say I disagree with your point, of course; just pointing out the irony of condemning someone for putting undue emphasis on a particular nation's contributions to something while inadvertently doing the same in the process.
  - jqt 8y ago
    The translated version (of course) of "what are you smoking" is used and known in my own language too. Surprises me that it's not universal as I thought it would be.
- dcosson 8y ago
  You don't think it's a little offensive and uncalled for to tell someone that it is inconceivable that anyone could be as stupid as they are?
- jpk 8y ago
  I am well aware of the colloquialism. My point is that it violates the site's comment guidelines. '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."' This comment can be shortened to eliminate the first sentence, which is needlessly rude.
yellowapple 8y ago
You must be smoking some real good stuff if you think "What are you smoking?" is meant to be a literal accusation of substance abuse.
- jpk 8y ago
  I am well aware of the colloquialism. My point is that it violates the site's comment guidelines. '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."' This comment can be shortened to eliminate the first sentence, which is needlessly rude.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    I don't disagree. That's not the objection your original response presented, though; rather, your comment implied a literal interpretation of "What are you smoking?", at which my own comment poked fun with a variation on that colloquialism.

by jpk 8y ago

gamblor956 8y ago

It's not an accusation of drug use. "What are you smoking" is a US colloquialism that means that one's statement is so nonsensical that the most logical explanation is that the speaker was smoking marijuana at the time the statement was made (because the implied alternative is that the speaker is crazy or quite daft).

majewsky 8y ago
Please keep in mind though that this is not strictly a US site. To me (as an experienced, but non-native speaker) "what are you smoking" does not sound tongue-in-cheek at all.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Please keep in mind that this site is operated by a US VC, on US hardware and software, for a US audience residing in a few tech-centric US cities. US colloquialisms are perfectly appropriate on this site.
  - AsyncAwait 8y ago
    > Please keep in mind that this site is operated by a US VC, on US hardware and software, for a US audience residing in a few tech-centric US cities. And funded by a Brit :-) Honestly, that's not how today's world works. Sites like Reddit and HN obviously have an international audience. It is not meant for people from tech-centric U.S. cities, but rather to be a sort of sales channel for YC, which BTW has well-known companies founded by non-Americans on its list, such as Gitlab, Stripe etc. > on US hardware and software Really? Are you sure there's not a line of free/open-source in there that's written by a non American? It runs on Linux, I presume, who's creator is Finnish and there are many non-U.S. contributors. If there's NGINX somewhere in the pipeline, now you're got some Kazakhstani/Russian code in there. If any part was ever touched by a JetBrains IDE, more evil Russians were involved etc. Please keep the nationalistic rhetoric down. P.S. Did you know that paper is a Chinese technology? Yeah, the same Chinese who keep the U.S. down by hyping climate change! I hope you're not using it! \s
    - yellowapple 8y ago
      "It runs on Linux, I presume, who's creator is Finnish" Who currently lives and works in the United States, last I checked. Not to say I disagree with your point, of course; just pointing out the irony of condemning someone for putting undue emphasis on a particular nation's contributions to something while inadvertently doing the same in the process.
- jqt 8y ago
  The translated version (of course) of "what are you smoking" is used and known in my own language too. Surprises me that it's not universal as I thought it would be.
dcosson 8y ago
You don't think it's a little offensive and uncalled for to tell someone that it is inconceivable that anyone could be as stupid as they are?
jpk 8y ago
I am well aware of the colloquialism. My point is that it violates the site's comment guidelines. '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."' This comment can be shortened to eliminate the first sentence, which is needlessly rude.

yellowapple 8y ago

You must be smoking some real good stuff if you think "What are you smoking?" is meant to be a literal accusation of substance abuse.

jpk 8y ago
I am well aware of the colloquialism. My point is that it violates the site's comment guidelines. '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."' This comment can be shortened to eliminate the first sentence, which is needlessly rude.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  I don't disagree. That's not the objection your original response presented, though; rather, your comment implied a literal interpretation of "What are you smoking?", at which my own comment poked fun with a variation on that colloquialism.