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When you see a group of people being critical, you can either see it as a “bummer”, or you can see it as people critically thinking about a thing. Is it really
by arcatech 2mo ago
When you see a group of people being critical, you can either see it as a “bummer”, or you can see it as people critically thinking about a thing.
Is it really more useful to have everyone expressing how much they like something instead of identifying problems?
Is seeing people talking about the things they don’t like something that makes you unhappy? Why?
- dryarzeg 2mo ago> Is seeing people talking about the things they don’t like something that makes you unhappy? Why? Probably (I'm just assuming) because that person observes negative/cautious/"I don't like this because X and Y and also Z"/etc sentiment too much and feels like people are only quick to notice issues while forgetting about good sides. It's only an assumption, though.
- sieabahlpark 2mo ago[dead]
- ddtaylor 2mo agoI think the HN rule for "curmudgeonly" applies. > Don't be curmudgeonly. Thoughtful criticism is fine, but please don't be rigidly or generically negative. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html I think HN should be a place where I am excited to see what others have to add. When I see a post I am excited to see what takes and spins others have on it. I do want real criticism and a lively debate about important things, but there has to be a balance. I want to see other comments that seem like they genuinely want to help steer something or build people up. Sometimes I get the impression that's not happening on HN.
- sieabahlpark 2mo ago[dead]
- stackghost 2mo agoThere needs to be another rule against being a techno-sycophant.
- brookst 2mo agoTo the curmudgeon, its techno-sycophancy to say the wheel is a pretty good thing. It’s just another take on shill / sheeple / etc. it gets old.
- stackghost 2mo agoAnd to the sycophant, pointing out real and obvious drawbacks is being a curmudgeon.
- overtone1000 2mo agoIn such situations, the golden mean is a useful lens.
- Razengan 2mo agoMortal combat is the only way to resolve this.
- tremon 2mo agoThe golden mean is only a useful lens if all sides are equally prepared to take up extremist positions. If some people are taking up considerate or even reasonable positions but others take up the absolute, the golden mean will always skew towards the unreasonable.
- throw10920 2mo agoI think I might agree, but just so we're clear: what exactly is a "techno-sycophant"?
- afavour 2mo agoDiscussing the privacy implications of a big box that says "drag files to me!" is thoughtful criticism. I would get the point if this was someone's personal Show HN project but this is Cloudflare. They can withstand a little critique.
- Nifty3929 2mo agoThe problem is that everything is negative, all the time. Nothing good is allowed to be acknowledged. Everything someone or some company does must not be acknowledged to have any redeeming value- it’s all just negative Which is sad, because so much amazing stuff is happening on the world right now, and seems to be only accelerating. For everybody.
- sciencejerk 2mo agoMaybe AI slop has something to do with it?
- arcatech 2mo ago> Nothing good is allowed to be acknowledged. What makes you say this?
- puchatek 2mo agoAmazing stuff? You mean technical stuff right? Because politically, demographically and climate wise we're headed for disaster or at least dystopia. I wished I could find all the science and technology as uplifting as my friends do.
- camillomiller 2mo ago[flagged]
- xpct 2mo agoI don't know, I find it very hard to stay positive about our general direction in the last couple of years, and know few people in real life who don't share this opinion, in or outside of tech. And I'm also not entirely sure I understand why others are excited, it perplexes me. I would appreciate any insight into this.
- sandcat_ 2mo agoIt may not be critical thinking though, but simply being contrarian, which is one of the easiest ways to sound smart without necessarily providing much of value or substance. And strangely, seeing as it’s relatively rare IRL, seemingly the default on the internet. Blindly praising isn’t worth much either, but I doubt that’s what jonluca is encouraging. It’s possible to “yes, and” without resorting to either sycophancy or relentless negatively.
- camillomiller 2mo agoThis is what the influencer propaganda machine on social media has done to people's view of critical thinking.