I disagree with the idea that negativity, in and of itself, deserves downvoting. Shouldn't these negative comments at least be evaluated for how they add to the discussion? Blanket dismissal of negativity leads only to "Yea it's great!" echo chambers.

I assume that sama's comment addresses harsh and unreasonable negativity.

Here's an example of a negative comment that (rightly) hasn't been downvoted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12509856

Here's an example of a negative comment that (rightly) has been downvoted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12508752

If sama is talking about negativity in general, then it would be a very sad thing to complain about people being negative. Because negativity is important, especially in discussions, especially for the reasons you touched upon. But I assume he knows better than to complain about people disagreeing.

I think he's just complaining about the number of people this topic has attracted that have come here simply to vent. And I agree, it's kind of a pain, but within a couple hours they get sorted out of the discussion. It's great that it's possible to say what they say on HN. And I just don't think it's worth complaining about, especially as someone involved in the production of the linked story. That's just feeding the trolls.