I salute the creators as well. As someone who goes out of his way to comment on every Show HN thread he sees, I believe most users are not cynical. I can see w

I salute the creators as well. As someone who goes out of his way to comment on every Show HN thread he sees, I believe most users are not cynical. I can see why most people could be considered harsh; this is why I try to specifically say I'm being constructive. I think the best way to go about giving feedback is to start with the negatives (the most glaring, preferably) and then end on a positive note with what the developer is doing properly. This tells the creators that they're doing good work and that they shouldn't abandon their babies (yet), they might just need to tweak things here and there. Conversely, tearing someone to pieces is mean and not productive, even if the points are valid. There are arguments for this that generally go along the lines of some Darwinian thinking where they shouldn't even be trying if they can't take criticism - that's unrealistic and unfair to expect of people. We all need to start somewhere. Help out fellow members. Hacker News is not a trial by fire - nor is it meant to encourage a death march. Those are two extremes. A comfortable middle ground where both criticism and praise are given is optimum. And I find there is rarely a submission so bad there's nothing good to be said about if at all.