Comment by datsci_est_2015
21 hours ago
> More often they likely sleep deeply on sheets of insanely high thread count, shame only goes so far to effect change.
Do you have alternative suggestions, or will you stick to simply discouraging the use of shame on this forum?
I'm a moderator here, and defrost is right. It's not cool to berate or “shame” people on HN. The very first phrase in the "In Comments" section of the guidelines is "Be Kind".
We can critique issues and trends in the industry or broader economy, including advertising; that happens all the time here. But also, on HN we're trying for conversation that is curious and thoughtful, at a standard that is higher than the average discussion forum. If we're going to make sweeping assertions like “advertising shouldn't exist”, we also need to offer suggestions of viable alternatives for ways that companies can get their products known about by people who might need them, and for websites to generate income to fund their operations. These are absolutely valid topics of thoughtful discussion in the spirit of curious conversation, which is entirely what HN is for.
Shaming an individual for working in a domain you've decided you don't like (though legal and widespread) is never okay here.
I'm pretty happy abiding by the spirit of this forum.
There are many forums that allow and even encourage attacks on others.