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I've been saying this forever here but Marco says it so much better. The majority of the times I see an article on HN getting popular about how awful some app o

I've been saying this forever here but Marco says it so much better. The majority of the times I see an article on HN getting popular about how awful some app or site is its usually this kind of scenario that Marco describes in effect. I can't tell you how many times I've seen an article here about some poor guy complaining that his favorite app changed a feature or price or policy that's often pretty trivial and turns it into an opportunity to start drama and shame the company because he didn't get the memo. Except everyone else did. When we see something we don't like it isn't bad to complain about it in and of itself but what isn't okay is this self-righteous attitude people have started to acquire. It's this phenomenon where we think that we can not only publicly shame companies on our blogs and believe we're important enough for them to change it back for us but, worse, we seem to think we're objectively right. This sort of mentality doesn't seem to carry over into the real world nearly as often. It seems that if you do business online your customers expect you to cater to each and everyone one of them individually. If I have oddly sized feet and can't get a pair of good fitting Nike's I don't try to publicly shame the company for not providing a shoe in the style I want in the size exactly tailored to my odd foot measurement. But when it comes to the Internet you had better be all things to all people it seems. Even stranger, for a community like HN where many of us are working on online products, we seem more guilty of this than the average person. How is that? Is it that we think because we know how to build things that our way is right? I don't know but I'm really glad Marco wrote this and I'm really glad people here are reading it.

mkoble11 14y ago
When we see something we don't like it isn't bad to complain about it in and of itself but what isn't okay is this self-righteous attitude people have started to acquire. It's this phenomenon where we think that we can not only publicly shame companies on our blogs and believe we're important enough for them to change it back for us but, worse, we seem to think we're objectively right. Social media is great - platforms like twitter and facebook give people an online voice. However, this also creates an over inflated sense that their voice matters more than anyone else. Part of the phenomenon you describe regarding public shaming is that this has become default way of addressing situations - because that's the culture those social platforms have created & reinforced. Further, it's much easier to do this online because you're just looking at pixels on a page - not into the eyes of a fellow human.
Paul_D_Santana 14y ago
This makes me think of this quote: The only way to avoid criticism, is to not do anything of value. So expect that it will happen, because it means you created or did something worthwhile.

mkoble11 14y ago

When we see something we don't like it isn't bad to complain about it in and of itself but what isn't okay is this self-righteous attitude people have started to acquire. It's this phenomenon where we think that we can not only publicly shame companies on our blogs and believe we're important enough for them to change it back for us but, worse, we seem to think we're objectively right. Social media is great - platforms like twitter and facebook give people an online voice. However, this also creates an over inflated sense that their voice matters more than anyone else. Part of the phenomenon you describe regarding public shaming is that this has become default way of addressing situations - because that's the culture those social platforms have created & reinforced. Further, it's much easier to do this online because you're just looking at pixels on a page - not into the eyes of a fellow human.

Paul_D_Santana 14y ago

This makes me think of this quote: The only way to avoid criticism, is to not do anything of value. So expect that it will happen, because it means you created or did something worthwhile.