While I wasn't a big fan of the "Cab Ride" story I think people are overreacting a bit. I was much more concerned with how this story was received: http://new

While I wasn't a big fan of the "Cab Ride" story I think people are overreacting a bit. I was much more concerned with how this story was received: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3548445 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3548445 The top comment thread is nothing but useless chatter from a crowd that should obviously stop surfing and get back to work. I thought it was really distasteful that the folks who called out the OP's poor work ethic got downvoted so heavily. One thought I've had is some sort of "elder" system on HN. I've noticed that the vast majority of the thoughtful and well-written comments come from people (a) above a certain karma threshold, for obvious reasons, and (b) they've been on HN for a good while. I don't know how it could be implemented, but there's definitely a tone and voice associated with really good HN comments, which is why I keep coming back here. I feel like people who stay for a while and don't try to pull in the direction of reddit eventually gravitate towards this tone and style of writing. (I feel I certainly have, my first heavily-downvoted crap comment was a big wakeup call to contribute better thoughts to the discussion). I think HN does an admirable job of pushing back against the "Eternal September" effect, but hey, let's be real for a second - even great minds might read trashy novels every once in a while. The cab story might just be an example of that.