This isn't the sort of thing author is talking about.
We're talking about the nasty, mean-spirited, no-holds-barred evisceration of each other by hiding behind the guise of criticism.
Take a few days ago:
"GitHub Gracious Helps Female Programmers Cower in Fear"[1]
Nobody is saying you have to agree with everything GitHub does re: sexism, or that they are above criticism. Nobody is saying you should be patting everyone on the back and giving gold stars for effort.
But what is that, really? You couldn't just say "this is wrong and doesn't help" or "your solution makes the problem worse"? No, author in this case had to go with the most needlessly inflammatory, mean-spirited, and downright asshole-ish comment possible.
Presentation matters. Criticism wrapped in vitriol becomes just vitriol, and vitriol wrapped in criticism still doesn't become good criticism.
Disagree away, but the way the geek community behaves it's clear many members take a perverse glee in eviscerating each other via "criticism". We revel in others being wrong, and we positively wet ourselves at the opportunity to point out this wrongness with gusto and vitriol. This perversity is what the author was railing against, not your ability to disagree in general.
> Presentation matters. Criticism wrapped in vitriol becomes just vitriol, and vitriol wrapped in criticism still doesn't become good criticism.
As if it would help you prove your point, that's completely braindead. What you describe is just a different form of shooting the messenger; you don't like the way they said it so you ignore what they said. For example if I point out your solution is N^2 and you're an idiot for doing it that way instead of N log N you may not be an idiot, but the solution is still a bad one.
If vitriol is the motive for the criticism then by banning the vitriol you've also lost the criticism. This is really a huge problem for Hacker News; by banning unkind critics they've lost a lot of actual criticism. The result is HN exists in a bubble of trends and fads because the people who take glee in deflating them get banned.
> [GitHub Gracious Helps Female Programmers Cower in Fear]... author in this case had to go with the most needlessly inflammatory, mean-spirited, and downright asshole-ish comment possible.
This is a good example, but not of what you think. The content of the blog is reasonably and calmly presented, but if you throw that away because of the flame title then you've lost that.
> "but if you throw that away because of the flame title then you've lost that"
Yes, and rightfully so. I have no problems with the author's views, I have every problem with people being assholes and douchebags with each other.
I have zero qualms about missing the thoughts of people who haven't the least modicum of respect for their fellow man. I don't care how smart you are, at the end of the day intelligence, or being right, is not the measure of a human being.
> "you don't like the way they said it so you ignore what they said"
Yes. Like I said, presentation matters.
The antisocial, the arrogant, the whatevers of the world who cannot massage their thoughts into something worth communicating will rage impotently at the fact that no one is listening to them. Us nerds have a bad habit of letting this turn into a superiority complex, but no matter how superior you might feel, still no one is listening.
At the end of the day, we're each only on this lonely rock for a short amount of time. Many of us have figured out that we'd much rather be good to one another with our time than to spend it stroking our egos by seething with rage about everything.
I think you meant righteously so. You are saying to discount facts and logic because the person saying them offended your sensibilities. You're just building a bubble of ignorance around yourself by discounting everything unseemly.
The reason why you find 'geek culture' hostile is because geeks tend to value merit more than you value morality. The computer does not care if the n log n algorithm was created by an evil genius or Ned Flanders, and neither do geeks.
There is tons of creative and worthwhile content on 4chan than you'll ever know and will deny exists (or has a right to exist). At the end of the day, there's more humanity on display at 4chan than HN.
We're talking about the nasty, mean-spirited, no-holds-barred evisceration of each other by hiding behind the guise of criticism.
Take a few days ago:
"GitHub Gracious Helps Female Programmers Cower in Fear"[1]
Nobody is saying you have to agree with everything GitHub does re: sexism, or that they are above criticism. Nobody is saying you should be patting everyone on the back and giving gold stars for effort.
But what is that, really? You couldn't just say "this is wrong and doesn't help" or "your solution makes the problem worse"? No, author in this case had to go with the most needlessly inflammatory, mean-spirited, and downright asshole-ish comment possible.
Presentation matters. Criticism wrapped in vitriol becomes just vitriol, and vitriol wrapped in criticism still doesn't become good criticism.
Disagree away, but the way the geek community behaves it's clear many members take a perverse glee in eviscerating each other via "criticism". We revel in others being wrong, and we positively wet ourselves at the opportunity to point out this wrongness with gusto and vitriol. This perversity is what the author was railing against, not your ability to disagree in general.
[1] http://www.thepowerbase.com/2013/04/github-graciously-helps-...