The root cause of the things you love about HN is that people are honest. Praise on HN is genuine because condemnation is genuine. If you want people to be truly passionate about changing the world, about disrupting entrenched inefficiencies that are bad for people, about seeing Silicon Valley be the best that Silicon Valley can be, they will call you out when you fall short of that.

If you don't want to be disappointed, fund better startups.

> The root cause of the things you love about HN is that people are honest.

I've been here a while and that's never made HN great. HN is supposed a welcoming place for smart folks with an interest in the small intersection between tech and business.

It's always felt like an implicit rule, but it's pretty simple: don't be a dick, and don't discourage people from exploring ideas they think are interesting. What positive outcome could that possibly have?

Honest != being a dick. You can be honest whilst respecting the other person. Being a dick just shows that you are a dick.

When you say better startups, what do you mean?

This is one of the most supportive forums on the internet for your projects. Take it back.

I'm going to challenge you to apply the Principle Of Charity here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity

Instead of "hating", what's the best possible motivation for these kinds of comments?

Alternatively, what emotions are behind them? What reaction can you have to those emotions that help the people who have them?

Disclaimer- I find middlebrow dismissal as disappointing as anyone. But I've found value in considering what underlies it.

Hush now. Criticism isn't hate. Disappointment isn't hate either. Being a back-patting "good-job" for everything forum seems like the ultimate sad ending to HN. Maybe you like to live in the lala land of yes men, and cronyism sponsored happy endings so even mild internet posts cut? :(

Anyway, this is the internet: people will have a problem with anything you do so don't take it personally.

Serious question: How are the opinions of a couple of internet commenter an attack on ambition, hard work, and potential success? I mean, big successes are treated the same way! Trolls will he trolls. Never mind the website.

Do a poll where you ask people something it seems inconceivable anyone would disagree with. "Should we teach and protect our children?". 20% will not want it. It's either internet hanging chads or trolls. Neither are worth reflecting on.