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Is it really so bad to let our guard down for a few minutes to celebrate the holidays and the things we're thankful for? Your office is supposed to be (in most

by bherms 16y ago

Is it really so bad to let our guard down for a few minutes to celebrate the holidays and the things we're thankful for? Your office is supposed to be (in most cases) a professional environment for conducting business, but everyone has a holiday party each year... Just sayin.

jsm386 16y ago
Today is the 23rd, which is Festivus. Perhaps this was a ritual Airing Of Grievances. ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus#Airing_of_Grievances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus#Airing_of_Grievances
rick_2047 16y ago
Then why don't we take our guard down when someone posts a little sarcasm or a small joke. Why do these posts always have a -4 or less karma? Why don't we have a separate section for lolcatz pics? In an office we have all that, nobody is totally professional with their first hand colleagues.
- ugh 16y ago
  Memes kill my experience on so many other websites, that’s why I will downvote every comment which makes reference to a meme. (Other meaningful content might save the comment sometimes.) Others seem to agree which is why those kinds of comments always get downvoted quickly. All the other stuff – sarcasm, jokes – is not always downvoted, it sometimes even receives a lot of upvotes. Don’t expect every joke to be upvoted, even if it’s a witty one. I guess it is consensus that we don’t want to see HN flooded with jokes and sarcasm.
  - rick_2047 16y ago
    Why this hypocrisy then? Shouldn't we have equal standards for all the things?
    - davidw 16y ago
      It's not hypocrisy, it's just very subjective. People upvote funny things from time to time, and downvote things that aren't funny often. There's no objective standard for that, obviously, but generally, 'funny' means something fairly new and unique and with some thought behind it, not trotting out some lame old sarcastic joke. Edit: I suppose the moral of the story is: if you're not sure, don't post it.
    - ugh 16y ago
      No we shouldn’t and it’s not hypocrisy. It’s appropriate editorial control. Think how a magazine editor would think. A great profile of Julian Assange might be worthy front page material if it is the first Wikileaks article in months, it probably isn’t if articles about Wikileaks were on the front page every day the whole last month.
- CopyrightTroll 16y ago
  Nice 'troll' rick but most don't get it.
Locke1689 16y ago
We're not really celebrating "the holidays," though. We're celebrating one holiday. Technically we could have one of these posts for every religious holiday during the year (meaning we'd have at least one post every day). It's pretty inarguable that this post represents a really high signal-to-noise ratio or makes a difference in any way. Why should we make an exception for this post?
- jacoblyles 16y ago
  Well it is the most important holiday of the year in North and South America, Australia, Europe, much of Africa, and for a sizable minority population of Asians, and likely for people currently living in space stations or Antarctica. The community is a sum of its members, and much of the community is currently enjoying the holiday spirit. If the community should wish to indulge in non-Western and non-Christian holidays as well, I will not bah-humbug their holiday experience.
  - Locke1689 16y ago
    Well, first you're overstating the percentage of Christians in the world. Second, you're completely missing the point. Religious holidays (or really holidays in general) have no place on HN. I will "bah-humbug their holiday experience," as you say, because I don't think this content serves an intellectually interesting purpose. There are plenty of places for people to celebrate their religion -- this does not need to be another. I really don't feel this is worthy of a big debate, though. My position is that HN is not a place for religious discussion, positive or negative, unless it has a more overreaching intellectual purpose. There's not much more to say.
    - jacoblyles 16y ago
      I'm a strict atheist, but I'm also a descendant of Western civilization (formerly known as "Christendom"). As such, I spend the Christmas season as my forefathers have for the last few thousand years - enjoying the heightened good cheer of my fellow men, relishing the opportunity to spend time with my friends and family, and counting my blessings. Hacker News is a news site, but it is also a community of hackers. If a HNer needs a place to stay in Mountain View or is in trouble in some other way, I would try to help them. As such, the occasional touch of a human element is appropriate. I feel it is acceptable to send my fellow hackers the traditional good wishes and cheer as my civilization (and most of theirs) have done during this time of year for generations, while not seeking to be exclusionary or force my beliefs on anyone. I see it as the digital analogue of taking a moment of time at a technical conference to tell my colleague that I hope his family is doing well. I would hope he wouldn't snap back at me that it was off-topic. It seems that aggressive atheists are more annoying than Christians nowadays.

by bherms 16y ago

jsm386 16y ago

Today is the 23rd, which is Festivus. Perhaps this was a ritual Airing Of Grievances. ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus#Airing_of_Grievances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus#Airing_of_Grievances

rick_2047 16y ago

Then why don't we take our guard down when someone posts a little sarcasm or a small joke. Why do these posts always have a -4 or less karma? Why don't we have a separate section for lolcatz pics? In an office we have all that, nobody is totally professional with their first hand colleagues.

ugh 16y ago
Memes kill my experience on so many other websites, that’s why I will downvote every comment which makes reference to a meme. (Other meaningful content might save the comment sometimes.) Others seem to agree which is why those kinds of comments always get downvoted quickly. All the other stuff – sarcasm, jokes – is not always downvoted, it sometimes even receives a lot of upvotes. Don’t expect every joke to be upvoted, even if it’s a witty one. I guess it is consensus that we don’t want to see HN flooded with jokes and sarcasm.
- rick_2047 16y ago
  Why this hypocrisy then? Shouldn't we have equal standards for all the things?
  - davidw 16y ago
    It's not hypocrisy, it's just very subjective. People upvote funny things from time to time, and downvote things that aren't funny often. There's no objective standard for that, obviously, but generally, 'funny' means something fairly new and unique and with some thought behind it, not trotting out some lame old sarcastic joke. Edit: I suppose the moral of the story is: if you're not sure, don't post it.
  - ugh 16y ago
    No we shouldn’t and it’s not hypocrisy. It’s appropriate editorial control. Think how a magazine editor would think. A great profile of Julian Assange might be worthy front page material if it is the first Wikileaks article in months, it probably isn’t if articles about Wikileaks were on the front page every day the whole last month.
CopyrightTroll 16y ago
Nice 'troll' rick but most don't get it.

Locke1689 16y ago

We're not really celebrating "the holidays," though. We're celebrating one holiday. Technically we could have one of these posts for every religious holiday during the year (meaning we'd have at least one post every day). It's pretty inarguable that this post represents a really high signal-to-noise ratio or makes a difference in any way. Why should we make an exception for this post?

jacoblyles 16y ago
Well it is the most important holiday of the year in North and South America, Australia, Europe, much of Africa, and for a sizable minority population of Asians, and likely for people currently living in space stations or Antarctica. The community is a sum of its members, and much of the community is currently enjoying the holiday spirit. If the community should wish to indulge in non-Western and non-Christian holidays as well, I will not bah-humbug their holiday experience.
- Locke1689 16y ago
  Well, first you're overstating the percentage of Christians in the world. Second, you're completely missing the point. Religious holidays (or really holidays in general) have no place on HN. I will "bah-humbug their holiday experience," as you say, because I don't think this content serves an intellectually interesting purpose. There are plenty of places for people to celebrate their religion -- this does not need to be another. I really don't feel this is worthy of a big debate, though. My position is that HN is not a place for religious discussion, positive or negative, unless it has a more overreaching intellectual purpose. There's not much more to say.
  - jacoblyles 16y ago
    I'm a strict atheist, but I'm also a descendant of Western civilization (formerly known as "Christendom"). As such, I spend the Christmas season as my forefathers have for the last few thousand years - enjoying the heightened good cheer of my fellow men, relishing the opportunity to spend time with my friends and family, and counting my blessings. Hacker News is a news site, but it is also a community of hackers. If a HNer needs a place to stay in Mountain View or is in trouble in some other way, I would try to help them. As such, the occasional touch of a human element is appropriate. I feel it is acceptable to send my fellow hackers the traditional good wishes and cheer as my civilization (and most of theirs) have done during this time of year for generations, while not seeking to be exclusionary or force my beliefs on anyone. I see it as the digital analogue of taking a moment of time at a technical conference to tell my colleague that I hope his family is doing well. I would hope he wouldn't snap back at me that it was off-topic. It seems that aggressive atheists are more annoying than Christians nowadays.