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Brendan. Wasn't fired; resigned, but could have stayed on. Everyone has the right to choose their leader (if they even want one).

davesque 12y ago
You know, the fact that this post was down-voted is actually a great example of the phenomenon being discussed here. Opposing views are met with hostility. I really think HN needs a lesson on down-arrow usage.
- mkr-hn 12y ago
  I was downvoted into oblivion back during that debacle for suggesting there were more possible viewpoints than "fire him" and "don't fire him." Everyone assumed I was from the "fire him" camp because I had a problem with his views (as expressed through his donation). HN has that well-understood problem where intelligent people think they're immune to faulty judgement, so they end up being easy to manipulate with simplistic but pleasant-sounding arguments. I happen to agree that progressive (i.e: self-described as intelligent and open-minded) people tend to be hypocritical and easy to manipulate, but I'm obviously coming away from that with different ideas than the people upthread.
- jsprogrammer 12y ago
  I don't even see how my post is an opposing view. The first two sentences are statements of fact. I'd argue that the third sentence is also a fact, but I'll accept that not everyone believes it. I honestly don't get what people disagreed with, I was just attempting to correct some of the factual errors that people had been making all over this comment section. Edit: Ah, I see that the person I responded to edited their post from "Brandon" to the correct, "Brendan".
  - davesque 12y ago
    You're right. All statements of fact. Very mysterious down-voting. I guess I used the term "opposing view" as a catch all for something that people seem to disagree with. It appeared that people disagreed with you since you got down-voted. I didn't mean to incorrectly represent your post but I guess I did accidentally.

davesque 12y ago

You know, the fact that this post was down-voted is actually a great example of the phenomenon being discussed here. Opposing views are met with hostility. I really think HN needs a lesson on down-arrow usage.

mkr-hn 12y ago
I was downvoted into oblivion back during that debacle for suggesting there were more possible viewpoints than "fire him" and "don't fire him." Everyone assumed I was from the "fire him" camp because I had a problem with his views (as expressed through his donation). HN has that well-understood problem where intelligent people think they're immune to faulty judgement, so they end up being easy to manipulate with simplistic but pleasant-sounding arguments. I happen to agree that progressive (i.e: self-described as intelligent and open-minded) people tend to be hypocritical and easy to manipulate, but I'm obviously coming away from that with different ideas than the people upthread.
jsprogrammer 12y ago
I don't even see how my post is an opposing view. The first two sentences are statements of fact. I'd argue that the third sentence is also a fact, but I'll accept that not everyone believes it. I honestly don't get what people disagreed with, I was just attempting to correct some of the factual errors that people had been making all over this comment section. Edit: Ah, I see that the person I responded to edited their post from "Brandon" to the correct, "Brendan".
- davesque 12y ago
  You're right. All statements of fact. Very mysterious down-voting. I guess I used the term "opposing view" as a catch all for something that people seem to disagree with. It appeared that people disagreed with you since you got down-voted. I didn't mean to incorrectly represent your post but I guess I did accidentally.