I agree far more with the top response to that quote than I do to the quote.
Account retired April 2020 (would delete but mere users aren't entrusted with this ability). Reasons? Legion.
Proximate: the moderator "dang" discourages contributors from questioning billionaire ubermenschens' statements from on high. Obedience to the megaconsuming 1% is the last thing we need right now.
Ultimate: The SV locus of the tech scene, of which HN is a cog, is a marketing tool for extremist hypergrowthers (and their propagandised aspirants to world-consuming greed). This is the most dangerous class of humans ever to have existed, constituting a grave threat to the entire biosphere. Undermining it, a task beyond my talents, would be valuable. Continuing to contribute to it is however unconscionable.
Sure, there is an element of storytelling, the ability of the artist to become a brand somehow, and another is the connections. For an artist to rise to fame, being in the right place at the right time, or rather, we should say, going to that place plays a role. But that is still an oversimplification.
To rise to super-fame, beyond the enticing or compelling story element and getting the connections to influential people, you've got to pull out the works. All those artists shipped; they were more creative and productive than the others, regardless of the quality/legacy of their oeuvre.