Comment by tomhow
16 days ago
Please don't post derogatory comments about nations or perpetuate national stereotypes or engage in political/ideological battle on HN. You've done this more than once. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
I come from the UK and I see this every day. The only way to improve things is for people to stop thinking like this. The article suggests it is a good thing. My opposition to defeatism isn't ideological. Ideology suggests a complex belief system/framework which this isn't. Why should we be glorifying failure? That is not healthy psychologically, and the only good thing about failure is that it can teach us how not to do things. That is not an "ideology", it is the promotion of a healthier mindset.
The linked article, on the other hand, is about the very thing you are complaining about – perpetuating a self-defeating self-image/stereotype – but you do not point that out.
By the way, I have read those guidelines several times and some of the wording is very open to interpretation/subjective. I am clearly reading them differently from you. (We have a very different understanding of what constitutes politics and ideology for one.)
It would be nice to think we could solve problems like this via comments on HN. After nearly two decades of this site's existence, it's pretty clear that's not realistic.
This site is for curious conversation, not combat or activism, and this is only a site where people want to participate because enough people make the effort to keep pushing for it to stay curious rather than combative. The only reason I saw your comments is because other users flagged them for being in breach of the guidelines.
We understand the guidelines are open to interpretation, and that it can take some time to become familiar with the culture and norms here. You can learn more about how the moderators apply the guidelines by reading the comments posted by dang and myself:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
It is clear at least two of us have fundamentally different definitions of a lot of these terms.
For example, I don't consider activism to be expressing an opinion in conversation, but to be taking a placard out onto the street and protesting etc. I consider ideology to be a complex system, not a single statement.
There do seem to be some sacred cows on here — one of them being criticism of Wikipedia — but I don't find the guidelines as clear as you do.
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