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This is passive aggressive as all hell. Whenever I ask “why did you build this?”, the answer “just for fun” is one that I find admirable. Replies like this jus

This is passive aggressive as all hell. Whenever I ask “why did you build this?”, the answer “just for fun” is one that I find admirable. Replies like this just punish curious conversation between hackers. Life is too short for this kind of snark.

DenverCoder99 4y ago
The lack of a human face and inflections in voice can make anything come across as passive aggressive. Reading the question "why did you build this" can come across as many different ways, including condescending.
Lammy 4y ago
It wouldn't need to exist if so many other people in our communities didn't ask "why did you build this?" with implied disdain. Just count how many times you see a link to that horrible X_CD "Standards" webcomic where the author's self-insert is always the Smartest Guy In The Room because he knows better than to ever create anything.
- mNovak 4y ago
  Interesting, I guess I've never seen anyone upset about xkcd before. I'm not sure if "author" here refers to the HN comment author or Munroe, but the latter is hard for me to view as "knowing better than to ever create anything", given authoring 1000+ webcomics and all.
Test0129 4y ago
What a perfect opportunity to discuss something that drives me absolutely nuts. The term "hacker" being used so liberally (especially here, despite the name). No, getting your app launched does not make you a hacker. Being the CEO of a startup does not make you a hacker. Writing a website does not make you a hacker. In fact, in my opinion, these things are against the very spirit of the hacker. A hacker is someone who creatively solves a problem, usually in an unexpected way. Sometimes, this is "hacking" together parts of smaller systems to create something novel and unique. The religious text of such hackers, the Jargon File, says so. Hence, why the above are not hackers. Gluing frameworks together does not make a hacker. Hijacking your CANBUS system to make your car better does. In fact, it would seem commenters here despise the idea of the hacker... there are so many posts that are either ambivalent or downright malicious towards people suggesting using a different language, trying a different technique, or whatever. To use the authors term the dominant mentality is unfortunately one of "what does this do for me" or "how can I make money with this". It seems like every young developer I talk to is obsessed with making the next big app in $FRAMEWORK or whatever. It's getting harder to find people who write code for the love of the art. The author is correct except in his use of the term hacker. I find it distasteful to attribute the average MBA-cum-developer a title as important as hacker. The snark is deserved. Our field has been hijacked by normies. This post is an important reminder of that.

DenverCoder99 4y ago

The lack of a human face and inflections in voice can make anything come across as passive aggressive. Reading the question "why did you build this" can come across as many different ways, including condescending.

Lammy 4y ago

It wouldn't need to exist if so many other people in our communities didn't ask "why did you build this?" with implied disdain. Just count how many times you see a link to that horrible X_CD "Standards" webcomic where the author's self-insert is always the Smartest Guy In The Room because he knows better than to ever create anything.

mNovak 4y ago
Interesting, I guess I've never seen anyone upset about xkcd before. I'm not sure if "author" here refers to the HN comment author or Munroe, but the latter is hard for me to view as "knowing better than to ever create anything", given authoring 1000+ webcomics and all.

Test0129 4y ago

What a perfect opportunity to discuss something that drives me absolutely nuts. The term "hacker" being used so liberally (especially here, despite the name). No, getting your app launched does not make you a hacker. Being the CEO of a startup does not make you a hacker. Writing a website does not make you a hacker. In fact, in my opinion, these things are against the very spirit of the hacker. A hacker is someone who creatively solves a problem, usually in an unexpected way. Sometimes, this is "hacking" together parts of smaller systems to create something novel and unique. The religious text of such hackers, the Jargon File, says so. Hence, why the above are not hackers. Gluing frameworks together does not make a hacker. Hijacking your CANBUS system to make your car better does. In fact, it would seem commenters here despise the idea of the hacker... there are so many posts that are either ambivalent or downright malicious towards people suggesting using a different language, trying a different technique, or whatever. To use the authors term the dominant mentality is unfortunately one of "what does this do for me" or "how can I make money with this". It seems like every young developer I talk to is obsessed with making the next big app in $FRAMEWORK or whatever. It's getting harder to find people who write code for the love of the art. The author is correct except in his use of the term hacker. I find it distasteful to attribute the average MBA-cum-developer a title as important as hacker. The snark is deserved. Our field has been hijacked by normies. This post is an important reminder of that.