Part of it might be Schadenfreude since HN does not seem to think much of RG.
Their affect is another example of cultural appropriation of "urban" culture by three very affluent guys (Stanford & Yale grads), which I think turns a lot of people off, including myself. As someone who genuinely grew up in that culture, it is painfully cringe worthy and just sad to see people who have no background in it adopt it. Their Disrupt interview was a genuine display of the generally awkward douchebaggery that comes from that appropriation.
So when I see folks like this do poorly because of arrogance, it is indeed schadenfreude.
It's one of the clearest examples of cultural appropriation and exploitation by a corporation. Really fucking disgusting.
Imagine if an American corporation wants to sell vacations to Mexico, and as a publicity stunt the CEO dresses up like a latino stereotype and adopts a Spanish accent.
This is how the Rap Genius douchebags-in-chief come off. Racist fuckheads.
Where the especially peeved choose to spend their attention (and comments and upvotes) can make lots of people or companies seem like community bete noires – even if most of the HN audience thinks the targets are fine or even admirable, but just has less energy for anti-carping.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6904224
The original link that was deleted was this