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On here, I’d expect that if anything you post does get traction, a fair number of people will question whether it should even exist, whether it’s done well, etc
by mplanchard 5y ago
On here, I’d expect that if anything you post does get traction, a fair number of people will question whether it should even exist, whether it’s done well, etc., often in a pretty condescending way. Sometimes it’ll be legitimate feedback, and sometimes it’ll be ignorant.
Plenty of people will be nice and constructive, but I often feel for the people posting their work on here given how harsh the community can be.
- InCityDreams 5y agoIsn't the harshness you mention precisely why it's worth posting here?
- mplanchard 5y agoIt’s very possible to give constructive, honest feedback without being a jerk. It’s that constructive feedback that makes it worth posting here. On the other hand, I don’t think the condescension or arrogance that’s fairly common on this site improves it at all, no.
- Underphil 5y agoI would agree with that. I've lurked here for a long time and it seems that constructive feedback gets upvoted a lot less than useless posts like "what's the point in this?".
- tomcam 5y agoAgreed. Posting something here will almost always force you to up your game, but there is an incredible amount of callousness in the commentariat on HN.
- georgebarnett 5y agoMany people are not yet skilled at giving feedback. Many will improve, with guidance. Those that don’t will blunder along, wondering why they can’t make it in the world.
- notreallyserio 5y agoMaybe we need to figure out how to give feedback to people giving feedback. And that feedback will need to be structured such that it doesn't just get dismissed immediately.
- hutzlibu 5y ago"useless posts like "what's the point in this?"." They are not pointless, those posts tell, that a clear explanation is missing. Most people simply do not read a lot and in detail. If they don't get it after some seconds looking at things, they will walk away. And look at the next thing. Summarizing a big novel project in simple words surely is hard, but very important.
- Underphil 5y agoI was referring to the many times a project doesn't resonate with the user specifically and they equate that with it being a useless endeavour.
- Flankk 5y agoFWIW I never posted on Show HN because I know what assholes people are here. The app is going strong anyways so nothing of value was lost.
- hluska 5y agoNo, adults are usually capable of providing constructive feedback without being harsh. We generally learned that somewhere in our mid teens. This ‘criticize people to death’ shit should embarrass everyone here. We can be better.
- shrimp_emoji 5y ago
- reidjs 5y agoI think he means people who post on hacker news
- Msurrow 5y agoLike when dropbox was first presented posted here on HN (before it was called dropbox), and the the top comments were all like “pssch.. no one will ever use that. Just use rsync”. A HN classic Edit - to op: post it because you find it interesting to work with and ignore all the know-it-alls. Maybe people will care, maybe not, but whatever. Do it because you like it.
- abirch 5y agoYou're right most people are wrong but don't know how wrong they are. It took me 30 years to learn how frequently I am wrong. Just do The Four Agreements from the eponymous book (the book's not worth the read IMO) 1. Be Impeccable With Your Word. 2. Don't Take Anything Personally. (Most people are wrong) 3. Don't Make Assumptions. 4. Always Do Your Best.
- QuikAccount 5y agoThis is a tangent but why do you think The Four Agreements is not worth reading. Its been on my reading list for a while.
- abirch 5y agoAfter you see the four agreements make sense to me, you may not need the mystic nature of the book.
- FPGAhacker 5y agoI thought the book was good, but I listened to the audiobook narrated by Peter Coyote which was excellent.
- ipaddr 5y agoIt's part of timing the market. Dropbox wouldn't have the market fit 5 or 10 years before. As people have become less technical and as devices multiplied and as people became more willing to spend on this category of customer products it became a winner. Rsync is easy for those who used it. That number (people who knew rsync) declined but less so here. Hn users were not natural customers but even that changed
- jlund-molfese 5y agoYeah, I just posted a short opinion piece from my personal blog on here and was surprised to see someone criticize it first as clickbait and then because I didn't cite any sources or scientific research. Then again, maybe HN being especially critical helps keep the quality of submissions high.
- mplanchard 5y agoIt seems like low-quality submissions mostly just rot in obscurity, either being flagged or never upvoted. IMO if someone’s going to take the time to comment, I’d prefer to to see it be constructive. I don’t know to what degree critical comments influence HN submissions, though. That’s a good point.