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Comment by minimax | Hacker News Reader

Why is this stupid frat house bullshit on the front page of Hacker News? We can do better than this.

stupid frat house bullshit

Why is this hatred and stereotyping in the comments of a front page Hacker News article?

Is it particularly uncommon for someone that both drinks and is passionate about programming to write code drunk? Someone incorporated an arduino breathalyzer into a source control tool with some jokey features.

What's so stupid or frathouse-ish about that? It's not super-duper strait laced and serious, but neither is life.

If you want to get drunk and write code that's great. Good for you. But for a bunch of HN users to vote that up to the front page and be super excited about it is dumb. It's the acceptance and promotion of immature "brogrammer" culture that I find really distasteful.

So you're dismissing a project because you drew an association between it and a boogieman caricature of people that you (perhaps even rightly so) don't like? OK, be my guest, but keep in mind that's a dangerous road to head down.

Because someone coded it up, which is more effective than I was on my projects this weekend.

I felt the same way, and then I noticed that the authors included a Ballmer Mode.

Also, I learned that someone's made a breathalyzer attachment for the Arduino (should have been obvious, in retrospect). YMMV, but it was a good use of my 60 seconds.

It boggles my mind that this needs to be said, even if in jest. Just looking at the subject, I think, "What kind of idiot needs to be told not to commit when drunk? Do they need to be told not to drive when drunk too?" And the article is worse than the subject.

Have you considered the possibility that you have encountered something called a "joke"?

They can be a little tricky, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of them if you try.

Especially tricky before my first cup of coffee in the morning. Just ask my wife! :-)

You're right, it doesn't need to be said. Everyone knows you don't drive or commit when drunk. The problem is that "drunk you" might disagree with "sober you", and want to drive/commit anyway.

That's why you install this cool thingy that doesn't let you commit when drunk. Sadly, it's not as easy with cars and drunk drivers...

I believe that folks are actually starting to look into this. http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/OVERVIEW/dpcc.htm...

What's wrong with a little bit of humor?

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