Still not seeing it. Both the tone and length of the post I replied to seem far more guilty of either interpretation (in context, given that blog posts are frequently much, much longer than posts on a forum) than the blog post it is basically smearing. The post seems uncalled for and contributes nothing of value to HN. It is merely scathing, for no apparent reason. It amounts to a personal attack rather than a critical analysis of the ideas put forth. Very often, posts of that character are rooted in personal vendettas. I'm not aware of some personal history between the two HN members in question, but the whole tone of the post just rubs me completely the wrong way.
the whole tone of the post just rubs me completely the wrong way
I could say the same thing about the blog post. It's seems to me it's not saying anything except "I'm a smart guy".
Very often, posts of that character are rooted in personal vendettas.
Now THIS is uncalled for. As is saying his post is smearing, worthless, and constitutes a personal attack, but this is most uncalled for.
I think onan_barbarian just thought that the idea from this blog post isn't really novel or interesting enough to be submitted here and that the author stated it in a way that makes him sound a little full of himself. He was being a little mean while making his point but people often react like that when something "rubs them the wrong way", no?
I really don't get how you can defend his post and turn around and state that mine is uncalled for. I am well aware that my posts are not "polite" and there is no good way to rebut the remarks that were made -- that stating "that's a personal attack" almost always ends up being a personal attack. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
Many people on HN come across as socially awkward, full of themselves and so on. Hackers are not exactly known for their suaveness as a group. (Personally, I have no fondness for suave people, but I imagine commenting on that would really strike people as "uncalled for", personal attacks, sweeping generalizations, and so on.) I don't see how sounding to someone else (not me) like he was full of himself invalidates the point or makes it uninteresting. I also don't see how even if it were guilty of such things that merits the characterizations in onan_barbarians remarks of "fatuous self praise" and so on. For me, it is good food for thought. I tend to be too talkative. I've had to work on such issues. I rarely find good insights into the type of problems that causes.
Anyway, it would probably be best to drop this. I'm quite tired, which is not a good place from which to try to politely disagree or parse out such things. And I strongly suspect that we are both merely putting out the fire with gasoline (since I really don't think you intend to be ugly and I certainly don't either), which really adds nothing of value any way you slice it.
