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Comment by dang | Hacker News Reader

> What do universities have to do with startup founders? Gross.

Please don't post unsubstantive comments or shallow dismissals to Hacker News. We're hoping for curious conversation here, not bilious.

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

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While I agree the comment will rub the startup groupies the wrong way, I don't really think the question itself is unsubstantial, especially in comparison to the post, as the post does not address the question. And I elaborated in response to a comment to it.

I'm not concerned with "groupies", but with the quality standard on HN, which the GP post was obviously below.

I edited the comment to contain only the question and not commentary.

I appreciate the edit, but now that I read the edited comment, I think I was responding mostly to the "Gross." bit.

The "Gross." remark (Edit: now removed) at the end was unnecessary, but the bulk of the comment seems like a pretty legitimate question to me.

It's telling that I see far worse HN comments on a daily basis that don't warrant a finger-wagging condemnation from you.

It's telling of the fact that we don't see most, or even 10%, of what gets posted here. There's far too much to read.

If you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it. You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

I don't expect you to read everything, but your choice of what to call out is still telling. If you truly think this is the sort of comment that needs direct intervention, I'd politely suggest you should set aside 2-3 hours per week to read comments on /new posts.

To be clear: I do not have the time or energy to back this up statistically, but my experience is that you are substantially more likely to choose to get involved in threads/comments that challenge startup culture than you are in threads/comments that embrace bigotry, conspiracy theories, and other genuinely appalling content.

Edit: To elaborate a bit and put a final touch on this before I call it a night, the problem isn't that I see you condemning comments like this; it's that I rarely-to-never see you condemning substantially worse comments. It seems to communicate a clear choice to allow repugnant behavior as long as it doesn't criticize startup culture/founder worship.

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