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> will annoy about 50% Why? I'm conservative but I've taken tips from Obama and Bill Clinton. A good idea is a good idea. That Obama and Clinton are successf

> will annoy about 50% Why? I'm conservative but I've taken tips from Obama and Bill Clinton. A good idea is a good idea. That Obama and Clinton are successful is all the more reason to pay attention when they give productivity advice, even though I disagree with several of their policies.

exmadscientist 6y ago
Learning from your opposition is one thing. "Here is a look at how John Smith furthered his goals" is a fine article. An article about another topic with an "I <3 John Smith" banner is just going to annoy people who hate him, to no end; it's completely disconnected from the article and therefore shows poor judgement on the author's part.
kn0where 6y ago
Many people find certain opinions of JP’s fall beyond the spectrum of reasonably debatable points of view, and cross the line into the unacceptable. You may disagree on whether JP is too extreme to be part of reasonable discourse, but everyone has a line somewhere. I would find it distracting if the article randomly showed a screenshot of quotes from Chairman Mao, and regardless of the rest of the article, it would unavoidably have some influence on my perception of the author. That’s an extreme example chosen because it is broadly relatable to most people on HN, but I’m sure there are far less controversial people than Mao that you would think are over the line of good taste for inclusion in such a blog post. It should be understandable that for some people JP is over their line.
- self_awareness 6y ago
  And do you think it's rational that people judge the content based on some icons that often don't have anything to do with the content itself? If someone would publish a whitepaper with a working cure for cancer, but would insert Stalin's photo into the paper, should the paper be automatically disqualified and the author exiled? ;)
  - kn0where 6y ago
    Well, humans aren’t entirely rational ;) I wouldn’t say the paper be automatically disqualified and the author exiled, but I would question the author’s judgement.

exmadscientist 6y ago

Learning from your opposition is one thing. "Here is a look at how John Smith furthered his goals" is a fine article. An article about another topic with an "I <3 John Smith" banner is just going to annoy people who hate him, to no end; it's completely disconnected from the article and therefore shows poor judgement on the author's part.

kn0where 6y ago

Many people find certain opinions of JP’s fall beyond the spectrum of reasonably debatable points of view, and cross the line into the unacceptable. You may disagree on whether JP is too extreme to be part of reasonable discourse, but everyone has a line somewhere. I would find it distracting if the article randomly showed a screenshot of quotes from Chairman Mao, and regardless of the rest of the article, it would unavoidably have some influence on my perception of the author. That’s an extreme example chosen because it is broadly relatable to most people on HN, but I’m sure there are far less controversial people than Mao that you would think are over the line of good taste for inclusion in such a blog post. It should be understandable that for some people JP is over their line.

self_awareness 6y ago
And do you think it's rational that people judge the content based on some icons that often don't have anything to do with the content itself? If someone would publish a whitepaper with a working cure for cancer, but would insert Stalin's photo into the paper, should the paper be automatically disqualified and the author exiled? ;)
- kn0where 6y ago
  Well, humans aren’t entirely rational ;) I wouldn’t say the paper be automatically disqualified and the author exiled, but I would question the author’s judgement.