5 ms·
Side note: Almost everything by Paul Graham gets upvoted fairly quickly. Has anyone insights into what the key ingredients for this are?
by baxtr 7y ago
Side note: Almost everything by Paul Graham gets upvoted fairly quickly. Has anyone insights into what the key ingredients for this are?
- maehwasu 7y agoDisclaimer: I think his essays are strong. There’s a lot of selection bias in his upvoting: a large number of people know/knew about HN because they liked PG’s writing.
- chrisweekly 7y agoI agree there's likely some selection bias as you mentioned. I think the strength of his writing is the biggest factor though.
- s_kilk 7y agoHis writing style is strong for sure but the concepts and observations are fairly trivial. I suspect it says something about the kind of ideas and discourse which are thought of as novel in tech culture.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoI think his essays are models of clarity and conciseness. But I agree about the content.
- dennis_jeeves 7y agoI upvoted you to counter some idiot(s) who down voted you...
- brainwad 7y agoBe a famous computer scientist who co-founded Y Combinator and created this very site?
- BenoitEssiambre 7y agoHacker news is basically his website.
- cm2012 7y agoHe founded YC
- dennis_jeeves 7y agoIn a manner speaking it is annoying to see (his not so profound) essay upvoted. Like people said he is the founder of he founded YC, so he has a fan following of the commoner naive programmer crowd. He certainly is an intelligent chap ( and very ordinary by some some measures) but by no means profound. In fact this subject of heresy is quite banal to me or anyone who has spent sufficient time observing society ( including the scientific community). I have always wondered what his objective was when writing these essays. (I always have an objective, when I write, which is not narcissism, or seeking approval/support/vindication).
- blfr 7y agoI'm pretty sure PG entertains quite a few interesting heresies that he's simply not willing to share publicly because of the backlash. Instead, he nudges people to find them on their own.
- dennis_jeeves 7y ago>Instead, he nudges people to find them on their own. A.k.a driving sense into the (intellectual) peasants :). I hope he succeeds. My observation though is that crows are never whiter by washing.
- pnathan 7y agoThat's been my take for a while. Idly curious what they are, but I'd rather not be extra-horrified at whatever they are.
- febeling 7y agoThere is a whole essay by him about this class of ideas, "Things you can't say." http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
- overgard 7y agoWhether something is "profound" is extremely subjective, and rooted in someone's personal experiences. Banal to you is not the same as banal to everyone. But to (playfully) turn it around on you, what was your objective in writing your comment? To display that you already know this and are thusly above the "naieve" upvoters of "banality"? Is that not "seeking approval/support/vindication?" :-)
- classified 7y agoThe cult of over-analyzing it all and coming out as being right in the end. Also, dreams of membership in the club of not-just-knowing-everything-but-knowing-everything-better.
- mcguire 7y agoIt's his site?
- buboard 7y agohe writes well. this may not be the best, but his essays are usually clearly written, to the point, nonjudgemental, right amount of brevity etc.