This sounds more like the broad problems with the internet and humanity than with programming. I’d say online programming communities are quite often more matur

This sounds more like the broad problems with the internet and humanity than with programming. I’d say online programming communities are quite often more mature than <random subreddit>. All these problems you mention do exist in programming communities, even here on HN to some degree, but important to remember these problems exist everywhere, and generally speaking HN is way more civil and reasonable than lots of other forums. People also fight immaturely over car brands and clothing and political opinions and sports teams and you name it… Have you read comments on YouTube? ;) My personal experience is that inside of tech companies, things are very different than online tech forums. There are still debates, but people’s goals and tech choices are often much more aligned, and there are good reasons not to act immature about things, because everyone knows who you are and your behavior is being noted and recorded in performance reviews. High quality internet discussions seem to depend on moderation, forum size, and participant reputation (lack of total anonymity). While HN is medium-large, it has very good moderation, and the point system helps with reputation (also the best conversations here I’ve seen tend to happen with people who aren’t anonymous at all, but who’s real-world reputations are known and carried online.)