It is not so much HN that is toxic, but in my opinion there tends to be a lot of inadvertently (...or not) toxic people in our industry. There are a lot of peo

It is not so much HN that is toxic, but in my opinion there tends to be a lot of inadvertently (...or not) toxic people in our industry. There are a lot of people I have worked with who have very strong opinions on what is the right way to do something. They will have zero qualms about telling you that anything-other-than-their-way is flat out wrong. I have been sat in meetings where it was basically a full-on argument between people for 30 minutes about if we should use X or Y to implement some feature until after perhaps 3 or 4 meetings and endless threads someone either capitulates or managers step in and force the matter. It becomes a point-scoring/pride thing where the same old foes face off against each other again and again and the cycle is repeated. It is stifling quite frankly, and I have often simply given up having an opinion at work sometimes because it is simply not worth (from an emotional energy perspective) joining the fray. Just let whoever shouts loudest/longest get their way and go home at 5pm. It is not surprising we get that here in HN if we are seeing it day in and day out in our offline lives too.