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Comment by morley | Hacker News Reader

The linked Verge article has some strange editorialization in it. I find it confusing, because I'm not sure what they're getting at.

> Systrom then immediately peaced out for a few months of paternity leave.

> With Systrom on leave, Facebook began testing location tracking and a disgusting hamburger button inside Instagram, offending Systrom’s delicate sensibilities.

Is the author saying that Systrom was being to sensitive about Facebook's demands? Or are they making fun of Facebook here? It seems like the author tried to inject some attitude into the piece without nailing down their point of view.

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"Offending one's delicate sensibilities" is a stock phrase. It's generally used in a tongue-in-cheek/mocking manner, referring to someone who is being overly dramatic; often used together with phrases like "clutching one's pearls".

I think they're mocking both Facebook and Systrom at the same time.

To what end? They think people care too much about UI design?

It sounds like the Verge writer is trying to demonstrate that he has a perspective wider than any of the principals like Systrom and the FB management team, and is thereby entitled to judge them. (Systrom is effete, and the FB team is ruthless.) It does wear thin.

That Systrom checked out but was also checked-in enough to throw a fit over the direction facebook decided to go in his absence/checked-outness.

I barely glanced through the Verge piece once I saw they were basing it off a Wire piece they admitted had a lot more depth to it. When another news outlet regurgitates an article in this way I at least want it to be in service or more analysis and interpretation of that original piece, which wasn't really happening here.

Yes, some poor word choice for journalism. “aesthetic sensibilities” would have had fewer negative connotations.

No. They’re saying Systrom finds the hamburger menu is ugly, crude, and completely out of place on Instagram.

Well, that is essentially Verge's modus operandi: strong opinions over original reporting. Even much of the original reporting they do is heavy on the "hot take" style.

The primary definition of delicate: fine in texture, quality, construction, etc.: a delicate lace collar.

I read it as a compliment.

If he had said "delicate ego" it'd be a different story.

Delicate is synonymous with "fragile". Delicate lace collars are fine when in appropriate context, but that context is fairly narrow (when you know it will be protected enough to survive).

As for people, I don't think our culture values fragility in an individual. Conversely, we definitely do value resilience. I'm not sure of a case where you could refer to a physical or mental aspect of someone as delicate or fragile (when it's relative to the norm where it's not) and it comes out positive.

Most people who read that phrase see "delicate" = fragile. Sensibilities are not like a lace collar.

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