This post conflates "level of effort" that goes into writing about an idea with quality of thought. In some ways, I agree. That's why I blog instead of social

This post conflates "level of effort" that goes into writing about an idea with quality of thought. In some ways, I agree. That's why I blog instead of social media (HN excepted) -- if I'm going to write a post, I'd rather put conscious effort into crafting it, rather than take the easy way out and summarize my vacation with a giant album of photos. However, there's also a certain wisdom to crowds, especially in a well-moderated community like HN. There's an awfully wide array of life experiences and perspectives among the commenters here, and I frequently find comments that are so well-written that they change my mind on a subject. Are comments on most sites 90% trash? Sure. But I'm not sure HN is like that. I don't think visible scores make any kind of difference for comment quality, if anything it's better to make the internet points a secret like HN comments so people talk instead of jousting for points. This post smells like a blog writer who's been lambasted by HN a few too many times, and invented this post as an excuse to protect his or her ego. And please -- if you're going to brag about how much time you spend rewriting sentences, don't commit the "How... look like" sin in the same post.