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I don't think the writer was blaming edw519, you or any of the other commenters on that thread. The writer was basically pointing out that the community as a w

by xiaoma 14y ago

I don't think the writer was blaming edw519, you or any of the other commenters on that thread. The writer was basically pointing out that the community as a whole was pretty dismissive and even a bit dickish. And that's a true assessment. One reason I don't enjoy HN as much as I did several years ago is that the default behavior seems to be to attack civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, builders who place idealism over profit... basically everyone but the sellers. Don't get me wrong, I see value in business. But choking all of the less buttoned-down, more rebellious voices is a pretty sure path towards killing the creative spirits that made a lot of today's profits possible. Every time I see a front page full of self-promotional blog posts, people pushing their info products or yet more tips on how to optimize the value one extracts rather than creates or worse yet, comments defending the TSA, MPAA etc... it makes me miss the Reddit of old. EDIT: This was a response to tptacek's (now deleted) comment which scolded the article.

VexXtreme 14y ago
> One reason I don't enjoy HN as much as I did several years ago is that the default behavior seems to be to attack civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, builders who place idealism over profit... basically everyone but the sellers. Don't get me started on smug narcissistic assholes who engage in self love at every opportunity and make every issue on here about themselves and their self promotion. Some individuals on this board sicken me (just look at this thread), it's a living proof that people will be people and that just because you're a young entrepreneurial hipster who likes to think of himself as a hacker doesn't make you better than other people... more likely than not, it makes you an arrogant dipshit.
gnosis 14y ago
"One reason I don't enjoy HN as much as I did several years ago is that the default behavior seems to be to attack civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, builders who place idealism over profit... basically everyone but the sellers." I've definitely seen a lot of this behavior on HN, but I think it used to be a lot worse than it is now. HN used to be mostly made up of startup founders and others very close to the startup scene, who are typically strong believers in capitalism, with an instinct to sympathize with business owners and valorize profit making. As HN has grown, lots of others unrelated to the startup scene (even unrelated to technology) have joined. As a result, the views getting expressed on here have become a lot more varied. There's actually quite a nice balance now, with representatives of all those you mention: civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, and builders who place idealism over profit. Look at threads about RMS, or even the thread linked to here, where Mr Swartz was attacked.. plenty of people come to their defense and express their idealism. Your own post is an example of this. Of course, the startup-loving, pro-capitalist types still tend to dominate here, but not nearly to the extent they used to.

by xiaoma 14y ago

VexXtreme 14y ago

> One reason I don't enjoy HN as much as I did several years ago is that the default behavior seems to be to attack civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, builders who place idealism over profit... basically everyone but the sellers. Don't get me started on smug narcissistic assholes who engage in self love at every opportunity and make every issue on here about themselves and their self promotion. Some individuals on this board sicken me (just look at this thread), it's a living proof that people will be people and that just because you're a young entrepreneurial hipster who likes to think of himself as a hacker doesn't make you better than other people... more likely than not, it makes you an arrogant dipshit.

gnosis 14y ago

"One reason I don't enjoy HN as much as I did several years ago is that the default behavior seems to be to attack civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, builders who place idealism over profit... basically everyone but the sellers." I've definitely seen a lot of this behavior on HN, but I think it used to be a lot worse than it is now. HN used to be mostly made up of startup founders and others very close to the startup scene, who are typically strong believers in capitalism, with an instinct to sympathize with business owners and valorize profit making. As HN has grown, lots of others unrelated to the startup scene (even unrelated to technology) have joined. As a result, the views getting expressed on here have become a lot more varied. There's actually quite a nice balance now, with representatives of all those you mention: civil libertarians, free software enthusiasts, file sharers, and builders who place idealism over profit. Look at threads about RMS, or even the thread linked to here, where Mr Swartz was attacked.. plenty of people come to their defense and express their idealism. Your own post is an example of this. Of course, the startup-loving, pro-capitalist types still tend to dominate here, but not nearly to the extent they used to.