Comment by paulhauggis
14 years ago
How long have you been using the Internet? sniping and negativity is the norm and I just ignore it. You should too.
If your app truly is good, your users/customers will be the only thing that matters.
14 years ago
How long have you been using the Internet? sniping and negativity is the norm and I just ignore it. You should too.
If your app truly is good, your users/customers will be the only thing that matters.
He's saying that sniping and negativity wasn't the norm for HN, but it's become that way.
That's either rose-tinted glasses or selective recall, or both.
Its neither, feedback supplied to the "Show HN" type posts would generally be positive, or at least constructive and polite. Even if there was no feedback to offer, people would still leave a congratulatory comment about launching.
4-5 years ago it felt like the only people who understood what you went through to launch were people on this site, everyone else including family and fellow co-workers at big corp were negative about the idea of leaving a "safe job" to pursue a dream.
But now with everyone having an idea about the next big app, and blockbuster movies coming out about the geeky kid who did follow his dream, everyone else is starting to "get" us, they can relate. So the feedback you get from outside of HN has become positive, and so the feedback from HN has become more of a "reality check".
I don't see why it just can't be polite but constructive though.
Probably both, I've not been around long enough to say accurately.
sniping and negativity is the norm and I just ignore it. You should too.
HN != "The Internet"
I somewhat agree with the OP... HN has (had) almost something of a "family" or at least "tightly knit community" vibe to it. Traditionally feedback here was expected to be honest and not sugared down, but polite in tone and constructive.
No one is saying that feedback here should consist of nothing but "Wow, that's GREAT. You're definitely going to be the next Zuckerberg." And no one expects all of us to get together around the campfire, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya. But there's no reason people can't be encouraging and supportive while also being totally honest.
Example:
"Congrats on the launch! Here's hoping your project succeeds wildly. I took a look, and while I like the Froozit and Gizamble features, I do kinda think the Frizgombit could use some improvement. I also have some concerns about how you will make money from this? Is the market for a Zvezkikit for octogenarians really big enough to support this? Anyway, best of luck!"
I mean, is it that hard to show a little support, throw some encouragement to the app launcher, while also giving useful feedback? This isn't "The Shark Tank" or an interview with pg (unless pg is the one giving the feedback, in which case it kinda is) where you go in mostly expecting to be challenged and not really encouraged.
All of that said, I don't think HN has totally descended into "nothing but negativity." I still see a lot of great comments and feedback here, although I would agree that the tone may have shifted a bit over the years.