5 ms·

It's interesting how everyone in this thread (rightly) views this as a promising development, yet whenever articles are posted discussing longevity research, yo

It's interesting how everyone in this thread (rightly) views this as a promising development, yet whenever articles are posted discussing longevity research, you see ghastly comments like this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26211722 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26211722 Isn't that hypocritical?

dang 5y ago
HN is not a person - it can't have human qualities like being hypocritical about something. That would be like calling a room hypocritical because people in it disagree. The community is a statistical cloud of people whose views are all over the place. While I have you: could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=community%20identity%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
- anonymous4759 5y ago
  I've used throwaway accounts here for a decade, since I post infrequently and don't care about karma, and it's never been a problem. Further, my comment wasn't flamebait (or anything otherwise objectionable) and shouldn't have been flagged. While I have you, dang: the flagging on this site is out of control. Why do you allow users to so easily hide from others comments they dislike? The downvoting, I don't care about. But flagging should be reserved for things like spam, racial slurs, and other stuff that obviously doesn't need to be seen.
  - dang 5y ago
    Although I turned off the flags on your comment, I don't agree that it wasn't flamebait. It was off-topic, generic, and provocative. It was even name-calling too ("ghastly"). That's a flamebait cocktail. Creating accounts for every few comments you post is a problem for the reason I just explained. Doing it for a decade doesn't make it ok. It makes it worse! In a way, this is a freeloader problem. The richness of the community here comes from people interacting and relating with each other over time. On HN people are welcome to do that anonymously (pseudonymously, for those who speak pedantic), but still need some identity for others to relate to. If you don't contribute that, you're freeloading in the sense that you're benefiting from what other people are giving, without giving anything comparable of yourself. That undermines the community. If everyone did it, we would have no community. Throwaway accounts are ok on occasion when there's some sensitive relevant information that shouldn't be linked to the main identity—but note that I said on occasion. Using them as a matter of course is abusive. That's also in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
    - anonymous4759 5y ago
      >ghastly That's a perfectly apt description of someone who desires the death of others, especially the death (by extension) of their own parents and grandparents in the name of some vague notion of "progress." And many of these same people then laud a vaccine that will increase the life expectancy and reduce the suffering of millions of people, oblivious to the contradiction. >In a way, this is a freeloader problem. The richness of the community here comes from people interacting and relating with each other over time. On HN people are welcome to do that anonymously (pseudonymously, for those who speak pedantic), but still need some identity for others to relate to. If you don't contribute that, you're freeloading in the sense that you're benefiting from what other people are giving, without giving anything comparable of yourself. Dang, as far as I'm concerned, I'm the one who's contributed and asked for nothing in return. I never asked for points (karma), or the ability to censor (flag) others' posts I dislike, or the ability to de-emphasize those posts (downvote). Meanwhile, I routinely see "uberusers" here get leeway, not just from you, but from the flag- and downvote-happy users, that anonymous users like me do not get.
galgalesh 5y ago
I'm one of the people who agrees with both sentiments. I think decreasing child mortality is great and that humanity needs people to eventually die. Dying in itself is not an issue. Early mortality is an issue. Give everyone the chance to live a full life.
- anonymous4759 5y ago
  > and that humanity needs people to eventually die. People will eventually die with or without aging. Consider accidents, suicides, homicides, or other non-age related illnesses. Do you think humanity needs billions of people to eventually develop Alzheimer's or other terminal late-life dementias?

dang 5y ago

HN is not a person - it can't have human qualities like being hypocritical about something. That would be like calling a room hypocritical because people in it disagree. The community is a statistical cloud of people whose views are all over the place. While I have you: could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=community%20identity%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

anonymous4759 5y ago
I've used throwaway accounts here for a decade, since I post infrequently and don't care about karma, and it's never been a problem. Further, my comment wasn't flamebait (or anything otherwise objectionable) and shouldn't have been flagged. While I have you, dang: the flagging on this site is out of control. Why do you allow users to so easily hide from others comments they dislike? The downvoting, I don't care about. But flagging should be reserved for things like spam, racial slurs, and other stuff that obviously doesn't need to be seen.
- dang 5y ago
  Although I turned off the flags on your comment, I don't agree that it wasn't flamebait. It was off-topic, generic, and provocative. It was even name-calling too ("ghastly"). That's a flamebait cocktail. Creating accounts for every few comments you post is a problem for the reason I just explained. Doing it for a decade doesn't make it ok. It makes it worse! In a way, this is a freeloader problem. The richness of the community here comes from people interacting and relating with each other over time. On HN people are welcome to do that anonymously (pseudonymously, for those who speak pedantic), but still need some identity for others to relate to. If you don't contribute that, you're freeloading in the sense that you're benefiting from what other people are giving, without giving anything comparable of yourself. That undermines the community. If everyone did it, we would have no community. Throwaway accounts are ok on occasion when there's some sensitive relevant information that shouldn't be linked to the main identity—but note that I said on occasion. Using them as a matter of course is abusive. That's also in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
  - anonymous4759 5y ago
    >ghastly That's a perfectly apt description of someone who desires the death of others, especially the death (by extension) of their own parents and grandparents in the name of some vague notion of "progress." And many of these same people then laud a vaccine that will increase the life expectancy and reduce the suffering of millions of people, oblivious to the contradiction. >In a way, this is a freeloader problem. The richness of the community here comes from people interacting and relating with each other over time. On HN people are welcome to do that anonymously (pseudonymously, for those who speak pedantic), but still need some identity for others to relate to. If you don't contribute that, you're freeloading in the sense that you're benefiting from what other people are giving, without giving anything comparable of yourself. Dang, as far as I'm concerned, I'm the one who's contributed and asked for nothing in return. I never asked for points (karma), or the ability to censor (flag) others' posts I dislike, or the ability to de-emphasize those posts (downvote). Meanwhile, I routinely see "uberusers" here get leeway, not just from you, but from the flag- and downvote-happy users, that anonymous users like me do not get.

galgalesh 5y ago

I'm one of the people who agrees with both sentiments. I think decreasing child mortality is great and that humanity needs people to eventually die. Dying in itself is not an issue. Early mortality is an issue. Give everyone the chance to live a full life.

anonymous4759 5y ago
> and that humanity needs people to eventually die. People will eventually die with or without aging. Consider accidents, suicides, homicides, or other non-age related illnesses. Do you think humanity needs billions of people to eventually develop Alzheimer's or other terminal late-life dementias?