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He isn't a hero coz you say so? He is my hero and I don't care for your definition. He is a "HN Salesmanship Hero" to me. I gained from him because he convinced

He isn't a hero coz you say so? He is my hero and I don't care for your definition. He is a "HN Salesmanship Hero" to me. I gained from him because he convinced me that there is a fortune to be made by selling something useful for just $5 a piece (with a brilliant spiel). You don't even have to invent it. I love his lifestyle and attitude. He convinced me that even if I were to lose everything, I could become a 'gentleman grafter' and turn life around.

swombat 18y ago
That makes him your hero, not the hero of the other 99% of HN.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- icey 18y ago
  I think everyone knows your position on whether or not this guy is a hero. I'm not sure how your opinion somehow equates to being the opinion of the other 99% of HN, but given the amount you've been downvoted in this thread, I'm going to assume that your guess is incorrect. There's been something going on here recently that's incredibly troubling to me. A lot of the people who have been around HN for a long time are going off the tracks when they disagree with anything. I don't know if it's a knee jerk reaction to all the new people, or if people are just stressed out by the constant barrage of terrible economic news or what. All that I know is that you're ordinarily a poster who has really interesting things to say, but somehow this thread has caused you to have a temper tantrum; and it doesn't suit you.
  - axod 18y ago
    I think the point is that the title suggests it's speaking for the whole of hacker news. That can be quite irritating... A simple change of wording on the title would have been a good idea - "Fantastic street seller, as featured in NYTimes, passed" I don't think it's good to edit titles to pass opinion, especially when you're suggesting you're speaking for some group. It's similar to a headline like "England devastated by death of Princess Diana". Erm well, it was shocking and sad, but I wasn't devastated.
    - icey 18y ago
      I certainly see your point. The guy wasn't one of my heroes either. But it just seems petty to continue to belabor the point after the first time it's been made. This is one of the few times that I wish there was private messaging here. There is clearly some reflexive downvoting going on in this thread, and it really shouldn't be that way - people shouldn't be punished for having a conversation.
      - fallentimes 18y ago
        Join #startups on IRC's freenode.
  - swombat 18y ago
    The violent reaction has largely been to the reflexive downmodding. I could understand that comment being at -1 or -2, but it was at -10 soon after my second response - that seems fairly unreasonable, so I deduced there was some of what you called "reflexive downvoting" going on. I call it lynch mob behaviour and I despise it. I'm quite happy to make it my personal crusade to fight that sort of group behaviour, which brings out the worst in all of us. For the record, I would have had the same reaction if it wasn't me that had made the first couple of heavily downvoted posts (in fact, I have in the past).
    - potatolicious 18y ago
      I downmodded you because it seemed that you were really just playing on semantics with regards to the definition of "hero", and that you objected to the title based merely on the opinion that he is not your hero, as opposed to some objective measure of heroism. I don't kneejerk-downmod. I have been known to kneejerk-upmod, but never the other way around.
    - pg 18y ago
      I call it lynch mob behaviour and I despise it. I'm quite happy to make it my personal crusade to fight that sort of group behaviour, which brings out the worst in all of us. I think what people were downmodding you for was the sheer waste of screen space over such a trivial matter. This whole thread is such an embarrassment. This sort of angry race to the right margin over some trivial disagreement is the sort of thing that's only supposed to happen on other sites. I know you don't mean it to be, but it's indistinguishable from trolling.
      - cdr 18y ago
        The right margin?
        pg 18y ago
        Oops, yes, fixed, thanks.
      - swombat 18y ago

swombat 18y ago

That makes him your hero, not the hero of the other 99% of HN.

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
icey 18y ago
I think everyone knows your position on whether or not this guy is a hero. I'm not sure how your opinion somehow equates to being the opinion of the other 99% of HN, but given the amount you've been downvoted in this thread, I'm going to assume that your guess is incorrect. There's been something going on here recently that's incredibly troubling to me. A lot of the people who have been around HN for a long time are going off the tracks when they disagree with anything. I don't know if it's a knee jerk reaction to all the new people, or if people are just stressed out by the constant barrage of terrible economic news or what. All that I know is that you're ordinarily a poster who has really interesting things to say, but somehow this thread has caused you to have a temper tantrum; and it doesn't suit you.
- axod 18y ago
  I think the point is that the title suggests it's speaking for the whole of hacker news. That can be quite irritating... A simple change of wording on the title would have been a good idea - "Fantastic street seller, as featured in NYTimes, passed" I don't think it's good to edit titles to pass opinion, especially when you're suggesting you're speaking for some group. It's similar to a headline like "England devastated by death of Princess Diana". Erm well, it was shocking and sad, but I wasn't devastated.
  - icey 18y ago
    I certainly see your point. The guy wasn't one of my heroes either. But it just seems petty to continue to belabor the point after the first time it's been made. This is one of the few times that I wish there was private messaging here. There is clearly some reflexive downvoting going on in this thread, and it really shouldn't be that way - people shouldn't be punished for having a conversation.
    - fallentimes 18y ago
      Join #startups on IRC's freenode.
- swombat 18y ago
  The violent reaction has largely been to the reflexive downmodding. I could understand that comment being at -1 or -2, but it was at -10 soon after my second response - that seems fairly unreasonable, so I deduced there was some of what you called "reflexive downvoting" going on. I call it lynch mob behaviour and I despise it. I'm quite happy to make it my personal crusade to fight that sort of group behaviour, which brings out the worst in all of us. For the record, I would have had the same reaction if it wasn't me that had made the first couple of heavily downvoted posts (in fact, I have in the past).
  - potatolicious 18y ago
    I downmodded you because it seemed that you were really just playing on semantics with regards to the definition of "hero", and that you objected to the title based merely on the opinion that he is not your hero, as opposed to some objective measure of heroism. I don't kneejerk-downmod. I have been known to kneejerk-upmod, but never the other way around.
  - pg 18y ago
    I call it lynch mob behaviour and I despise it. I'm quite happy to make it my personal crusade to fight that sort of group behaviour, which brings out the worst in all of us. I think what people were downmodding you for was the sheer waste of screen space over such a trivial matter. This whole thread is such an embarrassment. This sort of angry race to the right margin over some trivial disagreement is the sort of thing that's only supposed to happen on other sites. I know you don't mean it to be, but it's indistinguishable from trolling.
    - cdr 18y ago
      The right margin?
      - pg 18y ago
        Oops, yes, fixed, thanks.
    - swombat 18y ago