_l4lu

Thank you for holding up a mirror, dang! Being publicly called out came as a bit of shock and really got me thinking.

The comment above really isn't me. Or rather, it is clearly me (since I posted it), but I don't want it to be.

Where I disagree with you is the implication that undesirable people bring bad behavior with them and pollute this site. I think it's the opposite: something about this site brings out the worst in otherwise reasonable people. Or maybe it's all social media.

In any case, the negative effects clearly outweigh the benefits from participation. This will be the last comment from this account; I'll send a request for deletion. Thank you for accidentally curing my HN addiction! I'll be mindful of the door on my way out :)

This attitude is very common with software engineers and I find it baffling. Is it some kind of inferiority complex? I doubt Warren Buffett worries that he is overpaid and demands to be woken up in the middle of the night for some self-flagellation. So why do so many software engineers think "I am paid well so I deserve whatever the company throws at me"? You are selling something: your skills, expertise, and time on this planet. These things are limited and valuable. Negotiate the price and terms of the sale!

Sure, security is a good idea, but how far do you want to escalate it? If you visit a higher-end store or a bank in Latin America or the Caribbean you'll likely see a security guard or two with a shotgun. I'm not anti-gun, but I don't want to live in an environment where this is the norm.

The ultimate root cause is extreme inequality driving some people to act out. If people's lives are generally tolerable, fewer will feel justified in stealing a luxury item. I think it's less about the handbag and more about giving a middle finger to the established order. And no, I'm not saying we should give criminals carte blanche, or that the status quo is fine. But there is certainly a correlation between inequality and crime and focusing only on security isn't the whole answer.

Imagine saying "Yeah, there are human feces all over my living room and kitchen, but the bedrooms are clean. Overall it is a great place to live."

Whenever I visit SF I run into someone who looks like an extra from a zombie movie every time, without fail. Sometimes they "violently beg" by lunging at your feet as you walk past. Scream obscenities. Offer stolen goods at red lights. And if you somehow don't see them you can certainly smell them.

Just because we collectively got desensitized doesn't make all this OK.

One may wonder what exactly is the point in a human watching this auto-playing game system, and whether they'd be better off watching a movie... But another way to look at it is as a preview of the future.

Just picture this: a world of machines battling it out for supremacy, and somewhere off to the side there is an almost forgotten human brain. It seems to serve no discernible purpose, and yet it is actually the reason all the machines exist. What they are actually fighting to optimize, unbeknownst to them, is the dopamine release into a primate brain. Bonus points if the brain itself is a simulation :)

It doesn't just phone home to China. The company actually refuses to comply with the GPL because of "anti-China sentiment" and closed down their support forum when people got angry (https://www.reddit.com/r/RemarkableTablet/comments/hsyigm/on...)

Depends on whether you pronounce it see-kew-lite or ess-kew-lite :)

You are reading too much into these comments, I think. Just because there are some annoyances on HN doesn't mean it is the embodiment of pure evil.

> Imagine where you'd be forced to go if HN didn't exist, for example.

A better HN. It is possible: HN was such a place a couple years ago. And it can only get worse if the community keeps taking itself too seriously to allow even light-hearted criticism.

How could they have left out the patronizing irrelevant [0] links [1] to Wikipedia [2] in all the wannabe-academic [3] comments with references[4]?

(and yes, references must be 0-based [5])

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relevance

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_resource_locator

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academia

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-based_numbering

  make me a sandwich

and

  sudo make me a sandwich

both work

Can someone explain what exactly is XRD and what it is useful for? I'm not being sarcastic, just trying to figure this out.

I'm in a similar situation as the author, looking for my first full-time job (I'm graduating this spring). So, I guess my opinion doesn't count for much.

But I still think it's sad that someone's personal home page must be directed by the current perception of what's the "cool" thing to do (for that matter, using Dreamweaver is more what the "cool" thing was in the late 90s). A plain HTML page says "open-source hacker". But it only says that to other hackers, so this will only help you if the person doing the hiring is technical. A "generic HR person" might prefer a "generic stock template".

I'd argue that saying "I'm free" and then continuing with "I've been doing lots of house-sitting" and "find a partner who will support you" isn't exactly something to be proud of.