This is by no means specific for HN.
For example, a popular German radio moderator and podcaster once said:
"If I want to learn something about a topic, and ask a question on air, almost nobody answers. But if instead I make a false (or naive) claim about that topic, I receive lots of replies correcting me, and might even get an interview with an actual expert on that topic."
[Holger Klein, paraphrased, rough translation]
Yup, and Cunningham's Law also.
You're right about most generalizations about HN; I've noticed they're either false or "too true", as in they apply to much larger sets and therefore say little about HN specifically.
Thanks for pointing this out. Indeed, it seems that Mr. Klein rediscovered Cunningham's Law without noticing.
Yeah, it's all about framing. Subconsciously, I want titles and comments to reflect the world as I see it. I'll comment if I feel that the title is overly generous, or overly critical.
You're wrong.
Had the title said "Min, a first attempt at a minimal browser that we hope might have some value someday, perhaps you could take a look", commenters would bend over backwards to find nice things to say, because that would be the only way to contradict the title.
Actually the nice comments mostly come up for the same reason as the harsh ones—contradicting what someone else said. First the harsh comments contradict the title and then the nice comments contradict the harsh ones. Contradictions R us.
Edit: I started calling this the contrarian dynamic: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...