This comment sums up why HN has gone to shit - there's no curiosity or interest into what problems are solved by a product, just performative cynicism.
I did actually wonder why this was at the top of the front page, and attempt to phrase my comment in a way that wasn’t just negative. How would you have liked me to phrase my comment in this circumstance?
"Interesting! I’d love to hear how people would use this or what this solves."
Basically, instead of automatically taking a negative tone (which turns off people or turns a thread into an argument), a more positive tone would elicit more positive responses and maybe even a subject matter expert to chime in.
This comment - "This doesn’t seem at all significant to me" - comes off as negative or closed minded. We can already infer you don't understand the significance or usecase (nothing wrong with that), but the way you said it comes off as standoffish.
Notice how almost every response on your thread is now negative. If you set the tone to negative, all you're going to get is negative, combative, or non-constructive comments.
When politeness requires me to make statements that are factually incorrect, especially statements about my own personal feelings - then yes, politeness is lying! This is exactly what people mean when they talk about toxic positivity.
Would you consider the original comment to be in positive tone, and replied to it as such rather than if it consisted only of the first sentence - "What do people find interesting about this?" - and entirely omitted the second? If not, what would it take to make it truly positive, without resorting to making factually incorrect statements?
pastel8739 · · focus · HN ↗
alephnerd · · focus · HN ↗
pastel8739 · · focus · HN ↗
I did actually wonder why this was at the top of the front page, and attempt to phrase my comment in a way that wasn’t just negative. How would you have liked me to phrase my comment in this circumstance?
alephnerd · · focus · HN ↗
Basically, instead of automatically taking a negative tone (which turns off people or turns a thread into an argument), a more positive tone would elicit more positive responses and maybe even a subject matter expert to chime in.
This comment - "This doesn’t seem at all significant to me" - comes off as negative or closed minded. We can already infer you don't understand the significance or usecase (nothing wrong with that), but the way you said it comes off as standoffish.
Notice how almost every response on your thread is now negative. If you set the tone to negative, all you're going to get is negative, combative, or non-constructive comments.
Xirdus · · focus · HN ↗
K7PJP · · focus · HN ↗
Xirdus · · focus · HN ↗
alephnerd · · focus · HN ↗
Xirdus · · focus · HN ↗
Would you consider the original comment to be in positive tone, and replied to it as such rather than if it consisted only of the first sentence - "What do people find interesting about this?" - and entirely omitted the second? If not, what would it take to make it truly positive, without resorting to making factually incorrect statements?
[deleted] · · focus · HN ↗
[deleted]