What concerns me is that the appearance of knowing what the hell you are talking about and actually knowing what the hell you are talking about is not that diff

What concerns me is that the appearance of knowing what the hell you are talking about and actually knowing what the hell you are talking about is not that different An example: many times I offer startup advice. Now, if you read my profile, you'll realize that all I can do is feebly try to repeat what I've read. I'm nowhere near an expert. But sometimes I feel that the things that I've read could be helpful to others. So I make what appears to be a knowledgeable comment in the spirit of trying to help. Yes, it sounds a bit cold, analytical, but it has that air of something that might be useful. We got hundreds of comments like this, on any topic you'd like. Yes, we also have some world-quality researchers that come here and help out. But to the reader, it all looks the same. We easily confuse the social nature of appearing to be critical and helpful -- let's be honest, looking smart to our peers -- with the actual value we might be providing. HN is a place to go to read really biting comments that appear to dissect things into their core elements. But many times it's just wankers making easy criticisms from a Monday-morning quarterback perspective. I love the open forum, and I love the personalities and people here, but as you grow, social posturing gets way more traction than actually providing value, even though both types of comments are indistinguishable from each other. That's just a function of crowds.