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"Thus, if we look at the PG analysis as a measure of his mental state, we can speculate this is due to the prosperity he’s experienced in these last few years."

Actually it's because the site has become so large that I have to be more diplomatic. When it was small I could say harsh-sounding things without worrying about being misinterpreted. Now I have to be more of a politician.

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That was my other hypothesis, but it didn't really correlate well with the growth in the site's user base. HN has experienced an exponential growth rate, but your comments show a linear decline in negative impact. I went with the "better life" theory because it seems like personal prosperity and happiness would be more likely to show gradual, linear change. This is also supported by the trends I saw in other famous top HN users, particularly those that I know have experienced increased financial prosperity.

Instant link bait if you let us look up our own charts.

Maybe they decided to become more diplomatic as the community has gotten larger and begun to have real impact on people's reputation. Why do you think that would just be limited to pg?

I would think HN-famous people would especially be prone to become more diplomatic as their comments began to have more impact.

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