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0 pointsDevX1017y ago0 comments

This has been a HackerNews phenomenon for years. The default stance of HackerNews is contrarian.

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7 comments · 3 top-level

bostonpete7y ago· 2 in thread

No it's not. (j/k, sorry)

As a testament to this, I usually check the comments before clicking through to an article. As a result I virtually never click through to the article -- I just end up reading all the reasons it's wrong.

skwog7y ago

Tend to follow that pattern too.

Also reminds me of an anecdote. Talking with a tech VP from a telco recently, I offer an opinion to advance the discussion and his response was simply “No, that’s wrong, you’re so wrong.” Period, full stop. End of discussion, no explanation, no offer of what direction he might agree with. All that mattered was that I was wrong and that he had the right answer. Great talk.

ianai7y ago

That suggests it’s a cultural meme in self service.

wenc7y ago· 2 in thread

At its best HN is critical and discerning, which are necessary qualities for raising the discourse to a higher intellectual plane (otherwise this would just be Reddit). At its worst it is cynical and contrarian. Those are flip sides of the same coin.

HN is like UChicago. Cerebral, academic, rigorous and always ready to shoot down sloppy thinking.

Quora is more like Northwestern. Intelligent, emotionally savvy, and projects a sense of polish.

brian-armstrong7y ago

HN does not have a strict, unbiased critical thinking. If it did it might be more acceptable. The worst of HN is when it tries to bear critcism on a topic or subject that it inherently disagrees with and wants to be untrue (even when it probably is true).

wenc7y ago

You may have missed the first sentence I wrote. HN has two modes.

There is a thin line between critical and contrarian, and HN has good days and bad days.

afarrell7y ago

Which is a genuinely useful stance in the case of products—pointing out why someone’s startup won’t work does them the service of laying out potential failure modes.

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