3 ms·

It's all in how you interpret it. Let me show you some other interpretations of what you read. > 1) Unfortunately, someone took a conversation about a purchas

It's all in how you interpret it. Let me show you some other interpretations of what you read. > 1) Unfortunately, someone took a conversation about a purchase request as a chance to speak to [me] in a personal capacity "I was checking in on different departments, to make sure everyting was running smoothly, but got drawn into a non-work discussion I didn't really expect or have a lot of time for, but that's okay, he's a nice guy." > 2) Now that I live with the story, I’ve been waiting for a chance to share it so I don’t have to live with it any more. "Now that someone mentions some software that would possibly have prevented the exact problem the person related to me, I think it's relevant to share. > 3) Someone finally mentioned crematoria! Yes! Gather around, fellow engineers, to dissect a Therac none of you will ever interact with. By the way, the guy was half burned and fat. Sucks, right? "And the implicit moral of my story is that these weird and esoteric systems the top level comment mentioned and wished there were open source versions for because they all require windows do have consequences, and do need options." Or, you could just assume the person was like "ha ha dead people and fire" and assume everyone that asks you why you're upset is trying to curry favor with some weird set of tech moguls or something. Edit: > If it’s a problem that I care about those things, then, well, we are going to disagree. Caring is not the problem, caring is laudable. Seeing those things where they don't exist, that's not. I think you're keying off some words in the post and letting that set a state of mind that colored the rest of what you read. To me, that exchange was a moment of "aw, that sucks. I feel bad for everyone involved" on the part of both parties in the conversation. Relating that itself is not bad. In any case, we've gotten to the point where I actually got to see your reasoning to some minimal degree, and it's about what I thought (a gross misinterpretation to my eyes). I've addressed that here and before, and I'll let you have the last word.

aea12 7y ago
“You have interpreted incorrectly. Here’s the correct interpretation. I’ve interpreted you incorrectly by assuming your remarks have something to do with tech moguls despite your drawing a map in crayon for me about engineering ethics. I do not intend to address that interpretation because I have announced my exit from this conversation, as normal people do, but your misinterpretation is fair game for me to dissect with a whole lot of defending a pointless forum comment.” Thanks, kbenson. Insightful stuff. Real self-aware. I’m a big fan of the people refreshing just to flag everything I say now, regardless of its merit or violation of any guidelines, a conclusion readily apparent by the timing of my comments and their removal now. You folks are doing excellent work keeping this community a safe space to have the type of mindset being assailed here by silencing the contrarian opinions. Some day, the Paul Graham Bunny will leave a prize under your pillow, but first you have to recite one of his essays as part of your evening prayer. Every flag just proves my point, in a manner of speaking. I’ve touched a nerve. I know it, and you know it. I’m good with that.
- youdonthavekids 7y ago
  Not a big fan of your comments but I really don't like the fact you're being censored.
  - aea12 7y ago
    You have a long road of understanding HN, and everything and everyone in its incessant orbit, ahead of you. It will not be a comfortable experience and will make you doubt your choice of career, but once you understand, a lot of things will make sense and you’ll start noticing how much of your experience and existence is shaped by the people typing in this little box. If you’re in the audience that reads HN comments, a reliable predictor for a number of characteristics that I need not belabor, that’s an assertion I can quite comfortably make with no further knowledge. It’s worth it. I can assure you.
  - dang 7y ago
    You can see all [dead] and [flagged] comments by setting 'showdead' to 'yes' in your profile. Nothing is censored permanently on HN, except when the author makes a request to have their own stuff deleted and we can do that without damaging the thread for anyone else.
dang 7y ago
Can you please review the site guidelines and note this one? "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." (a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls). https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- kbenson 7y ago
  I think that's a subjective line. It's easy enough to get in a mindset that anyone that you disagree with to an extreme degree is just trolling, but I think we're all better off not assuming that too early. I was attempting to redirect the discussion in a productive direction, and did stop after it became abundantly clear that wasn't going to happen, but I'll readily admit in hindsight it probably went a comment or two farther than it needed. I can't reply it won't happen again (I'm an optimist at heart, which is part of the problem in this case), but I can say I do try hard and I think mostly succeed in reigning those impulses in, and I like to think it's somewhat rare (at least to this degree).
  - dang 7y ago
    I agree completely. Nicely written.

aea12 7y ago

“You have interpreted incorrectly. Here’s the correct interpretation. I’ve interpreted you incorrectly by assuming your remarks have something to do with tech moguls despite your drawing a map in crayon for me about engineering ethics. I do not intend to address that interpretation because I have announced my exit from this conversation, as normal people do, but your misinterpretation is fair game for me to dissect with a whole lot of defending a pointless forum comment.” Thanks, kbenson. Insightful stuff. Real self-aware. I’m a big fan of the people refreshing just to flag everything I say now, regardless of its merit or violation of any guidelines, a conclusion readily apparent by the timing of my comments and their removal now. You folks are doing excellent work keeping this community a safe space to have the type of mindset being assailed here by silencing the contrarian opinions. Some day, the Paul Graham Bunny will leave a prize under your pillow, but first you have to recite one of his essays as part of your evening prayer. Every flag just proves my point, in a manner of speaking. I’ve touched a nerve. I know it, and you know it. I’m good with that.

youdonthavekids 7y ago
Not a big fan of your comments but I really don't like the fact you're being censored.
- aea12 7y ago
  You have a long road of understanding HN, and everything and everyone in its incessant orbit, ahead of you. It will not be a comfortable experience and will make you doubt your choice of career, but once you understand, a lot of things will make sense and you’ll start noticing how much of your experience and existence is shaped by the people typing in this little box. If you’re in the audience that reads HN comments, a reliable predictor for a number of characteristics that I need not belabor, that’s an assertion I can quite comfortably make with no further knowledge. It’s worth it. I can assure you.
- dang 7y ago
  You can see all [dead] and [flagged] comments by setting 'showdead' to 'yes' in your profile. Nothing is censored permanently on HN, except when the author makes a request to have their own stuff deleted and we can do that without damaging the thread for anyone else.

dang 7y ago

Can you please review the site guidelines and note this one? "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." (a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls). https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

kbenson 7y ago
I think that's a subjective line. It's easy enough to get in a mindset that anyone that you disagree with to an extreme degree is just trolling, but I think we're all better off not assuming that too early. I was attempting to redirect the discussion in a productive direction, and did stop after it became abundantly clear that wasn't going to happen, but I'll readily admit in hindsight it probably went a comment or two farther than it needed. I can't reply it won't happen again (I'm an optimist at heart, which is part of the problem in this case), but I can say I do try hard and I think mostly succeed in reigning those impulses in, and I like to think it's somewhat rare (at least to this degree).
- dang 7y ago
  I agree completely. Nicely written.