Comment by names_are_hard | Hacker News Reader

Comment by names_are_hard | Hacker News Reader

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I didn't downvote you but I can understand people who did - your comment doesn't add meaningfully to the conversation because it doesn't add any new ideas or food for thought that the reader doesn't already have. It just expresses your frustration with the state of affairs.

While there is a place for that kind of comment in certain kinds of conversations, many people come to Hacker News to engage in curious and enlightening conversation instead of emotional echo chambers present elsewhere on the Internet.

By contrast, check out this sub thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45259553#45273473

I upvoted a number of comments there with opposing viewpoints because I appreciated that they made me think about things in a deeper way than I had previously, while avoiding anger or insults.

Hello, thanks for your comment but i don't think there's anything bad in frustration, anger and sometimes insults, i think emotional intelligence is a meaningfull addition to these kind of conversations, particularly when empathy and other natural human emotions have been demonized to this point. I also think that some angers and frustrations are perfectly healthy, i even think that in some cases it is not sane to not feel. Anyways thanks to those who don't downvote, seeya

I think what the parent comment was trying to emphasize is that making comments that don't contribute towards a discussion is against the guidelines of HN.

Comments like your original one, that only expresses your emotions, fall under this category, and are frowned upon. Not the opinion contained in your comment, but the comment itself.

HN users also use the downvote+flag buttons to enforce these guidelines. The downvote button is not an indication of user disagreement here the way it is on other sites.

This is my last message arguing about this, 2/3 of my first message is about our failure to communicate or teach basic morality, unless discussing morality doesn't count as a valid discussion or as a lesser discution i don't think my message counts as only expressing emotions. Maybe they read "shame" and stopped reading there, so props to them for engaging in discussions. But i got more upvotes since so i guess it was just an early misunderstanding and most people get it, oh well, nvm

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