6 ms·

This is the worst idea ever. I'm generally a pretty negative person for a reason. Negative feedback is necessary for anything to actually get better. And who o

by sprash 12y ago

This is the worst idea ever. I'm generally a pretty negative person for a reason. Negative feedback is necessary for anything to actually get better. And who or what decides what is "gratuitous". This is a recipe for despotism and censorship.

mfringel 12y ago
I disagree. Feedback is usually necessary for anything to actually get better. Negative feedback might be necessary for the commenter to feel better.
kolbe 12y ago
I couldn't agree more. What gets sold to us as an idea that will reduce "gratuitous" negativity can pretty quickly tun into a tool that censors any valid criticism of YC companies that would have a material negative impact on their portfolio's value.
DanBC 12y ago
You can provide negative feedback in a useful constructive way. I don't get the impression that HN wants you to stop doing that.
switch007 12y ago
I agree. This reminiscent of a manager that wants to make a mark by creating arbitrary, vague rules out of the blue. This a community. Was there a "we think we may have a gratuitous negativity problem" discussion? Thin end of the wedge, perhaps. I hope not. (From the article) "Too much gratuitous negativity might be the difference between someone giving up on a crazy idea and building the next Airbnb." If negative, anonymous feedback here disuades and disenchants them, what hope is there? Are we going to have a Safe Place section of the site, to protect applicants from all bad things? Bad things happen. Mean people will say mean things on the Internet. Life is hard.
- krebby 12y ago
  > If negative, anonymous feedback here disuades and disenchants them, what hope is there? Absolutely. See Dropbox's Show HN, the slashdot iPod announcement, and every other worthwhile product ever. As a community we're pretty bad at picking successes.
  - pekk 12y ago
    People are also erroneously overrating things all the time. The problem with our predictions isn't a skew to negativity, just the normal inability to predict the future due to lack of knowledge.
    - krebby 12y ago
      There's also a definite survivorship bias (and an equally strong failure bias) to remember only the outliers. Most ideas fall squarely in the middle and we promptly forget about them. (obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/1497/ https://xkcd.com/1497/)
mmcru 12y ago
yup. personally i feel that being able to receive unfiltered, honest feedback on the internet is a feature, not a flaw.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> This is the worst idea ever. I can think of several ideas actually implemented in human history that were much worse. > And who or what decides what is "gratuitous". FTFA: "How are we going to enforce this? By asking the community to do so. Gentle reminders by peers are the best way we know to make the culture better." > This is a recipe for despotism and censorship. I don't see how that is any more true of the HN guidelines with this addition than it was of the HN guidelines without it. Could you, perhaps, flesh out the basis for this conclusion?

by sprash 12y ago

mfringel 12y ago

I disagree. Feedback is usually necessary for anything to actually get better. Negative feedback might be necessary for the commenter to feel better.

kolbe 12y ago

I couldn't agree more. What gets sold to us as an idea that will reduce "gratuitous" negativity can pretty quickly tun into a tool that censors any valid criticism of YC companies that would have a material negative impact on their portfolio's value.

DanBC 12y ago

You can provide negative feedback in a useful constructive way. I don't get the impression that HN wants you to stop doing that.

switch007 12y ago

I agree. This reminiscent of a manager that wants to make a mark by creating arbitrary, vague rules out of the blue. This a community. Was there a "we think we may have a gratuitous negativity problem" discussion? Thin end of the wedge, perhaps. I hope not. (From the article) "Too much gratuitous negativity might be the difference between someone giving up on a crazy idea and building the next Airbnb." If negative, anonymous feedback here disuades and disenchants them, what hope is there? Are we going to have a Safe Place section of the site, to protect applicants from all bad things? Bad things happen. Mean people will say mean things on the Internet. Life is hard.

krebby 12y ago
> If negative, anonymous feedback here disuades and disenchants them, what hope is there? Absolutely. See Dropbox's Show HN, the slashdot iPod announcement, and every other worthwhile product ever. As a community we're pretty bad at picking successes.
- pekk 12y ago
  People are also erroneously overrating things all the time. The problem with our predictions isn't a skew to negativity, just the normal inability to predict the future due to lack of knowledge.
  - krebby 12y ago
    There's also a definite survivorship bias (and an equally strong failure bias) to remember only the outliers. Most ideas fall squarely in the middle and we promptly forget about them. (obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/1497/ https://xkcd.com/1497/)

mmcru 12y ago

yup. personally i feel that being able to receive unfiltered, honest feedback on the internet is a feature, not a flaw.

dragonwriter 12y ago

> This is the worst idea ever. I can think of several ideas actually implemented in human history that were much worse. > And who or what decides what is "gratuitous". FTFA: "How are we going to enforce this? By asking the community to do so. Gentle reminders by peers are the best way we know to make the culture better." > This is a recipe for despotism and censorship. I don't see how that is any more true of the HN guidelines with this addition than it was of the HN guidelines without it. Could you, perhaps, flesh out the basis for this conclusion?