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You're an asshole if you think that "just losing some photos" isn't a big deal. Minimizing or person's trouble by giving a hypothetical example is not only mean

You're an asshole if you think that "just losing some photos" isn't a big deal. Minimizing or person's trouble by giving a hypothetical example is not only mean spirited, it's also stupid. For instance, the OP could have lost his family in a fire but at the same time someone else in the world could have that while also being tortured. Dumbasses Beyond that, our photographs help to serve as a link to out memories, and to many people they are just as important as the memoirists themselves. Even more important later in life when our memories are failing and when we have lost those that are important to us. So while you're bitching about first world problems, consider yourself lucky that your biggest problem today is that someone else suffered a near misfortune and that you are lucky enough to bitch about it from the comfort of your air conditioned home. You ignorant, useless fucks.

redacted 13y ago
Completely agree. I think the negativity on HN stories is this site's manifestation of karma whoring. A family thought they lost a lifetime's worth of photos and cherished memories? Easy to make a snarky comment about first world problems and watch that number increase. pg: if you read comments like that, do you ever regret not giving downvote access earlier? I feel that having top-rated comments be so unremittingly negative (and frankly dickish) hurts HNs image.
- zacinbusiness 13y ago
  I do dislike the community system on HN. It rewards inflammatory posts and trolling rather than reasonable and rational discussion. And for that matter, it rewards sensationalistic posts. I think the main issue is that HN is a really high profile community, and with that you get stupid people like these "1st world haters."
- mikeash 13y ago
  It's especially asinine because it implies that third-worlders don't care about family photos. What, you think that just because their standard of living is lower, they don't feel the attraction of visual media of their loved ones? I get the impression that a lot of people who comment on this site don't comprehend how anyone who isn't a relatively wealthy programmer actually lives. Anyone who doesn't make at least $60,000/year is engaged in a daily struggle to survive and can't possibly have time to care about things like photos of their mother, apparently.
VLM 13y ago
There are valid treatment programs for hoarding, none of which involve complicated computer backup rituals, so the discussion began off the rails before comments started derailing. Toward those with a problem, it is possible to feel some empathy as their illness negatively impacts their lives while still recognizing the illness as an objective fact. Your analysis that those not showing some minimal level of empathy are mean spirited and stupid sounds more or less correct to me although its a matter of degree which makes it messily analog and complicated. As for commentary about lost memories and such, in the long run we're all lost. Live your life to live, not to be documented and preserved. You're a person not a wikipedia article. I don't think you'd like most eastern philosophical outlooks on life; but we don't have to all agree with each other, merely be civil enough in our near direct opposition. Historically humans have done worse. I would disagree with the ignorant, useless commentary in that most people know (of) someone with a hoarding problem and here on HN we know all about complicated technical rituals. As for the useless thats hard to parse, there seems little point in referencing a hoarding support URL in a locale where we all pretty much know how to google. And people who are sick usually already know so mentioning it isn't helping, as you correctly mention. Overall a mixed bag, 7.0/10.0 as a comment about half the wide ranging comments were good and/or half good, some not so good. Well written from a literary standpoint although some logical argument issues behind the first glance. On a broader scale I think its interesting to consider hoarding in the digital age; not seen much on that. Most of the diagnostic criteria from meatspace should transition pretty smoothly into tech; is the behavior negatively impacting the victim, and so on. I don't think the cure for digital hoarding will be bigger storage or more outlandish technical schemes; I suspect a lot of people agree with me; this is probably the root of the "backlash" rather than some inherent hatred of victims. The dude in the article is doing the exact wrong thing to fix his fundamental problem with outlook on life, therefore intense backlash. I wish him well, even if I think he's going in the exact wrong direction to actually fix the problem.
- sameer_sundresh 13y ago
  Digital hoarding isn't just backing up your family photos; it's compulsively finding, downloading and storing all sorts of content that you have no real use for (movies, music, TV shows, books, software, etc. -- usually in violation of copyright). Most people enjoy commemorating a special moment with a photo, and being able to easily relive that memory a few years later. Smart digital technology makes this cheap and easy. Sure, having the camera out all the time is compulsive. Going through and manually editing, tagging and deleting photos is compulsive too. Most people do neither, but they still want to keep their photo memories safe.
lmm 13y ago
I have lost all my photos before. It was... initially upsetting, but oddly liberating a few weeks on. The things I care about, I still remember. The people I care about I still care about - and for the one who isn't around any more, I wish I'd spent more time talking to him and less time taking photos. I still take photos occasionally, but I've cut back a lot, and I think my life is better for it. (And I can't afford air conditioning, thank you very much)

redacted 13y ago

Completely agree. I think the negativity on HN stories is this site's manifestation of karma whoring. A family thought they lost a lifetime's worth of photos and cherished memories? Easy to make a snarky comment about first world problems and watch that number increase. pg: if you read comments like that, do you ever regret not giving downvote access earlier? I feel that having top-rated comments be so unremittingly negative (and frankly dickish) hurts HNs image.

zacinbusiness 13y ago
I do dislike the community system on HN. It rewards inflammatory posts and trolling rather than reasonable and rational discussion. And for that matter, it rewards sensationalistic posts. I think the main issue is that HN is a really high profile community, and with that you get stupid people like these "1st world haters."
mikeash 13y ago
It's especially asinine because it implies that third-worlders don't care about family photos. What, you think that just because their standard of living is lower, they don't feel the attraction of visual media of their loved ones? I get the impression that a lot of people who comment on this site don't comprehend how anyone who isn't a relatively wealthy programmer actually lives. Anyone who doesn't make at least $60,000/year is engaged in a daily struggle to survive and can't possibly have time to care about things like photos of their mother, apparently.

VLM 13y ago

There are valid treatment programs for hoarding, none of which involve complicated computer backup rituals, so the discussion began off the rails before comments started derailing. Toward those with a problem, it is possible to feel some empathy as their illness negatively impacts their lives while still recognizing the illness as an objective fact. Your analysis that those not showing some minimal level of empathy are mean spirited and stupid sounds more or less correct to me although its a matter of degree which makes it messily analog and complicated. As for commentary about lost memories and such, in the long run we're all lost. Live your life to live, not to be documented and preserved. You're a person not a wikipedia article. I don't think you'd like most eastern philosophical outlooks on life; but we don't have to all agree with each other, merely be civil enough in our near direct opposition. Historically humans have done worse. I would disagree with the ignorant, useless commentary in that most people know (of) someone with a hoarding problem and here on HN we know all about complicated technical rituals. As for the useless thats hard to parse, there seems little point in referencing a hoarding support URL in a locale where we all pretty much know how to google. And people who are sick usually already know so mentioning it isn't helping, as you correctly mention. Overall a mixed bag, 7.0/10.0 as a comment about half the wide ranging comments were good and/or half good, some not so good. Well written from a literary standpoint although some logical argument issues behind the first glance. On a broader scale I think its interesting to consider hoarding in the digital age; not seen much on that. Most of the diagnostic criteria from meatspace should transition pretty smoothly into tech; is the behavior negatively impacting the victim, and so on. I don't think the cure for digital hoarding will be bigger storage or more outlandish technical schemes; I suspect a lot of people agree with me; this is probably the root of the "backlash" rather than some inherent hatred of victims. The dude in the article is doing the exact wrong thing to fix his fundamental problem with outlook on life, therefore intense backlash. I wish him well, even if I think he's going in the exact wrong direction to actually fix the problem.

sameer_sundresh 13y ago
Digital hoarding isn't just backing up your family photos; it's compulsively finding, downloading and storing all sorts of content that you have no real use for (movies, music, TV shows, books, software, etc. -- usually in violation of copyright). Most people enjoy commemorating a special moment with a photo, and being able to easily relive that memory a few years later. Smart digital technology makes this cheap and easy. Sure, having the camera out all the time is compulsive. Going through and manually editing, tagging and deleting photos is compulsive too. Most people do neither, but they still want to keep their photo memories safe.

lmm 13y ago

I have lost all my photos before. It was... initially upsetting, but oddly liberating a few weeks on. The things I care about, I still remember. The people I care about I still care about - and for the one who isn't around any more, I wish I'd spent more time talking to him and less time taking photos. I still take photos occasionally, but I've cut back a lot, and I think my life is better for it. (And I can't afford air conditioning, thank you very much)