Comment by supernova87a

Agreed, clearly a selection effect going on, not just in long content-filled opinions/articles, but also comments, even here on HN.

Use caution and don't take the average commenter to represent reasonable consensus opinion -- in either how you think you should feel about your own opinion, or what you think others think. You have to have your own external sense of what's reasonable or not, tested by multiple sources.

People who are opinionated here are generally outliers on the spectrum. (particularly on non-technical opinions about public policies) Those who feel strongly enough to take the time to write may not represent the mainstream.