As the author of one of the "negative" comments yesterday -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5738748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5738748 -- I'll s

As the author of one of the "negative" comments yesterday -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5738748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5738748 -- I'll scurry out of the bomb shelter long enough to offer a counterpoint. I view this entry as a bit of a tantrum, by someone who cares so little about the comments on Hacker News that he has repeatedly slandered the site and its regulars, and while encouraging others to post this very link in a comment earlier today simultaneously demands that this site not link to him. This strikes me as a little childish and bizarre for someone who, as I think we all know, understands a bit about the internet. He is attempting to bully a group, using tactics more commonly found in grade school, and is threatening to cancel recess for everyone. If you are a public figure, which Winer is for his contributions to the industry, "you" become bigger than the person. You become a message bus and a context. That comes with a lot of benefits, which includes that every opinion gets broadly spread regardless of merit, but it also means that context becomes a legitimate target for criticism, and a persistent wrapper around all messages, because your opinions are broadly spread regardless of specific merit. It is not reasonable to demand that each message be evaluated outside of that context. And I'll reword what I wrote yesterday to fit this particular entry, which is that many of his posts have become deeply depressing. Many follow the pattern of aggrieved entitlement and disenfranchisement (and to repeat what I said yesterday, fit the bigoted stereotype about older developers. As one of the only people who even mentioned age -- and as a 40 year old developer -- I find it bizarre if Dave thought that was an insult about his age, when in reality it was a comment about him seemingly veering towards becoming the cliche). It is fantastic that he is working on new, interesting stuff, but the message that percolates out continues to be rather morose.