Frankly, I think a firehose of ridicule is the last thing this site needs, and I'm sad when I see it upvoted. I'm inclined to engage in that kind of interactio

Frankly, I think a firehose of ridicule is the last thing this site needs, and I'm sad when I see it upvoted. I'm inclined to engage in that kind of interaction myself, having learned somewhere along the way that it's what a certain kind of intelligent person does. So I thought it was something to emulate. But I've been re-examining that assumption, largely in reaction to conversations I've seen on HN. I try not to engage in rapid back-and-forth threads that go more than a couple of posts deep. And I try to keep snark at a minimum. Sometimes I fail, but when I do I feel guilty about it, like I'm dragging the site down. I do not feel like I'm accomplishing something with it. On the other hand, I feel free to be snarky on Reddit since that site is hopeless anyway. :-) We often see laments about the declining quality of conversation on this site, and I believe such rapid-fire exchanges from leaders in the community are a contributing factor there. It sets a bad tone.