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Comment by laputan_machine | Hacker News Reader

Then we should definitely never use them. Honestly, this line of reasoning really grates my gears. Yeah a tiny portion of people can't use them, so nobody should use them, I shouldn't put one in my house, etc.

If that's not what you're stating, then what _are_ you stating? I don't get it.

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Parent did not imply that nobody should use them, but maybe offered some valid points to explain why they might not be seeing a very wide adoption. Your response seems more hostile than it needs to be.

I disagree. Parent's comment is like me posting an article on how toothbrushes work and this guy pops up and tells me that toothbrushes have some serious usability issues because Tetraplegic people can't use them.

Did you read the original article? It is a one-side argument basically saying there's no reason at all to not use a chest fridge and the parent comment just objectively gave a few. If one aren't capable of rational thinking and be able to hold different views (ie pros and cons) simultaneously then they shouldn't be giving opinion at all. Next you know everyone holding a different opinion is just stupid or selfish or whatever.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

Disagree. It's like someone posting an article about how amazing horse hair toothbrushes are and someone else comes along and points out why the world has largely moved on.

The usability issues with chest freezers are real and it's quite likely that a big portion of the energy savings is because the chest freezers in question don't do auto defrost. Plenty of people really don't want to deal with regularly emptying everything out to let all the ice buildup melt.

I'm pretty sure: 'You can't see what's in a chest fridge very easily which is a problem if there is more than one person in the household.'

Applies to a majority of people.

That’s also something touched on in the article though with baskets. In my experience, these freezers are often for longer term storage anyways, so their contents usually isn’t changing often enough for this to be a problem

You are right for freezers, but the article mentions a freezer that was converted to a fridge, which implies that the contents are for shorter term storage and is a different use case.

Do you have a chest fridge as the main or only fridge in your house? Tell us about your experience?

I feel my comment was just a response to the article text. Particularly the paragraph stating: "So - WHY mediocre food-spoiling fridges are being made? WHO makes decisions to manufacture them? Who awards them "stars" and other misleading awards? Why people continue to buy and use energy wasting and food-spoiling devices? Does anyone care about understanding anything?"

I would like all fridges to be as efficient as chest fridges but I think they are impractical for small and medium houses, elderly people, families, disabled people, short people and people who can never remember what they have in their fridge. I think they are a niche product that is only suitable for a tiny proportion of people.

PS. On a personal note my quick comment seems to have stressed you out so I'll endeavour to write clear non-gear grinding comments and you should probably get off the internet for a bit

> Do you have a chest fridge as the main or only fridge in your house? Tell us about your experience?

I grew up with a chest freezer in my house as a child. I never had any problems with it as a kid, I didn't need to get kilos of meat out of it, because I was a child and my parents cooked food for me. It doubled up as a kitchen countertop, but you'd have to keep it clear or you couldn't use it, which is a usability shit.

Did you? Tell me about your experience.

I'll say the real issues with chest freezers is that unless you design your kitchen around them they end up taking more space.

The best use IMHO for a chest freezer is for long-term storage of food that you occasionally need to use. I know people who use them for storing extra food, they buy huge amounts in bulk and even running the freezer 24/7 they save a lot of food money doing this. Most people (myself included) probably don't have the luxury of space.

> I feel my comment was just a response to the article text. Particularly the paragraph stating: "So - WHY mediocre food-spoiling fridges are being made? WHO makes decisions to manufacture them? Who awards them "stars" and other misleading awards? Why people continue to buy and use energy wasting and food-spoiling devices? Does anyone care about understanding anything?"

Yeah, the article in question is short sighted and I disagree with many of the points the author makes. Usually I'll quote the text I'm responding to, instead of the article in general. This makes it less likely for some random internet nob head to come along and misinterpret what you're saying ;).

> I would like all fridges to be as efficient as chest fridges medium houses, elderly people, families, disabled people, short people and people who can never remember what they have in their fridge.

No, I disagree

> I think they are impractical for small houses

Yes, I agree

> I think they are a niche product that is only suitable for a tiny proportion of people.

Yes, I agree

*But they're still useful!*

For individual use, sure they're a tiny proportion, but what about industrial use, catering?

They're useful for specific situations and poo-pooing them _ENTIRELY_ because of some issues is a short sighted approach that I see EVERYWHERE in real life and online, and it boggles my mind.

You can say your post doesn't say they're useless for everyone, but I would say it heavily implies it.

> PS. On a personal note my quick comment seems to have stressed you out so I'll endeavour to write clear non-gear grinding comments

You shouldn't change how you write because I took umbrage with it, that's an issue with the internet today, don't change who you are just because some arsehole online didn't like what you wrote!

> and you should probably get off the internet for a bit

You should probably stop telling people what to do.

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