As I said elsewhere in this discussion, HN has largely failed as a networking tool for me and I can occasionally email about three people from here. I appear to be the only woman who has ever made it to the leaderboard (under a different handle). Meanwhile, in a different discussion in the last few hours, a man on the leaderboard casually commented that he has met quite a few members of HN IRL.
My understanding is he is a self made millionaire. In contrast, I am quite poor.
My inability to effectively network appears to be at least partly due to my gender and the tendency of men to interpret overtures from me as an opportunity for romance. Men who view me in such terms never become business contacts. It is an absolute dead end for me.
Then when I complain that sexism on HN is partly responsible for my intractable poverty, I am treated like a lunatic. I don't know how much more painfully obvious it could possibly be. I was homeless when I became the highest karma openly female member here and hit the leaderboard about a month after I got off the street. Yet I continue to get treated like I am just hallucinating some connection between my gender, my inability to effectively make professional connections and my lack of adequate income.
And never mind how many articles like this hit the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16389666 No, I must just be nuts or something.