> often, they correspond with individual Hacker News readers over e-mail, coaching and encouraging them in long, heartfelt exchanges I've been part of a brief

> often, they correspond with individual Hacker News readers over e-mail, coaching and encouraging them in long, heartfelt exchanges I've been part of a brief but very positive exchange like this with dang, and it's not an exaggeration. This is part of why I still visit the site; there's a real personal touch that makes this forum what it is. I felt stupid about a comment I'd left and thought "ugh, I should ask someone to delete this". dang responded saying it was a great comment and that I should consider keeping it as it was the kind of content he felt made HN a constructive and interesting place. I was totally caught off-guard.