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Comment by Hedepig | Hacker News Reader

Also in its defence: it costs nothing.

Feedback and critisism can be great, but why be hostile towards projects where a person has used their time to build something and release it gratis.

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Hostility is taking it too far, but I think it’s quite odd that the author has neglected to provide any screenshots in their blog post or readme despite dedicating a lot of text to justify their color choices and design.

I think we're very used to encountering projects that have a level of polish or completeness. It's jarring when we come across amateur (for the love of) projects and homepages that lack such.

For the record, I agree, I found I wanted a better look at all the theme had to offer.

I am just a little fed up with this kind of entitlement that comes when someone puts something they've created out there. We want to encourage people to release their stuff, even if it is a little rough. Give them tips, help them. Don't just attack it. IMO HN will be better for it.

But maybe that's just me

I completely get what you’re saying - but this is not an /amateur/ release? Clearly the author cares a lot about design, has put together a blog and repo, launched the theme for obsidian and iterm, etc

Edit: Not sure why you’re framing this thread by different HNers as an attack somehow and your last statement feels judgmental.

Perhaps it's archaic, but I was using the word amateur to mean "for the love of"

Edit

> Not sure why you’re framing this thread by different HNers as an attack somehow and your last statement feels judgmental.

I wasn't talking about the criticisms themselves, heck, I agree with them. I was more referring to the fact someone felt entitled to a good user experience they got angry.

Perhaps I'm being oversensitive on behalf of the guy who put effort into releasing this. But this isn't isolated, often people get punished for putting something out there that does not have a certain level of polish, I think that's totally counterproductive.

I think it's a bit strange to be so gung-ho about unpolished/amateur projects on hacker news. I think part of the hacker culture is sort messing around and sharing your findings, right or wrong. I don't think thats orthogonal to polish, but I think that sometimes includes unpolished work.

I do agree with you, in other words. I would prefer if we encouraged amateur work.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. It's really easy to trash on someone for not getting it right, but IMO we should congratulate on the achievement of actually making something, and give feedback on how to make it better.

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