I like and value most HN comments, but I agree that there is quite a bit of negativity. One way to look at it is that if the average commenter even accidentall

I like and value most HN comments, but I agree that there is quite a bit of negativity. One way to look at it is that if the average commenter even accidentally makes a negative comment once per year, and if 10,000 people view a thread, that's the potential for 27 destructive comments. It doesn't help that negativity enforces itself, so it doesn't take long before a thread can be inundated with a hostile attitude. But how to address that? I don't know how it might work, but what if there was an option for the author to include a picture of themselves (on HN)? That might humanize the discussion, by reminding people that they're talking to a real person...