History is by definition nitpicking. History without nits picked is called "ideology" or "myth".

Imagine you are holding a very, very nicely done history textbook. Excellent illustrations made with love, excellent typeface, high quality print, packaging, etc.

Except it's all totally wrong.

Could you appreciate the work that went into this?

I'm also puzzled by many of the comments that are (for HN standards) exceptionally angry and dismissive.

Yeah, apparently the data is incomplete and there are some errors/disputes. But that will always be the case when processing huge amounts of data in a way that's never done before. I'd hope we could provide more helpful feedback (what _exactly_ is incorrect and what is the source of the correct information).

Edit: upon closer inspection I found many of the comments originating from the same users, so maybe it's just a very passionate topic for a small but vocal group.