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Interesting perspective - I never really thought about the tone of my comments. I've always played "the devil's advocate" because it's the way that the smaller
by smoyer 7y ago
Interesting perspective - I never really thought about the tone of my comments. I've always played "the devil's advocate" because it's the way that the smaller start-ups I was involved with stay alive. I'm going to make sure that I praise good ideas first ... and then perhaps warn of potential pitfalls. Sorry if I participated in turning HN into a downer.
As an aside, I don't read HN that way. Even when there's a pessimistic tone, I often read right through it and think to myself "that's some good advice". It will be interesting to see whether we become more bearish simply due to the COVID-19 environment we're all working in now.
- zizee 7y ago> I'm going to make sure that I praise good ideas first This is something I am trying to do in real life as well (although I don't always succeed). For some reason it's really easy for me to open my mouth to talk about weakenesses/problems with things, but it's not as natural to highlight the positive aspects. I also try to say aloud my positive thoughts about people when they pop in my head instead of keeping them to myself.
- smoyer 7y agoI've also been handwriting small thank you notes and "kudo cards" the last few years ... it just never occurred to me that people here needed the same type of validation as those I interact with IRL.
- JohnL4 7y agoPragmatic stuff first, then emotional. :-) Pragmatic: when hearing praise, my thoughts are sometimes, "yeah, yeah, cut to the chase." I guess you gotta read your audience. Emotional: It IS easy to be negative. We also tend to over-experience/over-perceive the negative, which (partially) is how we get over-reaction to criticism or advice, even when asked for. And sometimes we really just want validation. I guess you gotta, uh, read your audience.