If someone is that far into writing bad code, computer science textbooks are the last thing they need. Algorithmic awareness does not result in readable code, and cyclomatic complexity has only a very loose relationship with computational complexity. In fact, code written by computer science professors is routinely some of the messiest, gnarliest stuff I encounter.

Books like Domain Driven Design are helpful for people who don't know how to program cleanly, but the most important thing is really mentorship from a good programmer. People need code reviews that are firm and guide them in the right direction.

“But it’s not global! I put it in this object [that is global]”

Heard at least twice, and at different jobs.

Similarly to static variables (globals), threading and race conditions, and/or using really ineffective structures as a caching layer.

ye, I got into a rather angry argument with another user about Hellenistic Antiquity. I was told back then. What impact does being shadowbanned have? Have I been shouting into the void these past few months?

Yes, a lot of people won't see your comments since the default is NOT to show the dead ones, and I have to "vouch" for your comments to be able to reply.

Replying to "icantdrive55"

I agree - I find the whole mess, with flag / dead / shadowbanned, to be extremely cowardly. It reminds me of Hettinga [1], who would quietly delete comments he disagreed with from his blog. In both cases it was an issue of "private property so they can do what they want" but I still dislike it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hettinga

Oh I see. That would explain a lot. I thought I was just getting out of touch and nobody liked me anymore! :D

Well maybe i'm still pretty unlikable but not _that_ unlikeable. Thanks for the clarification.

Out of curiosity, how do you know a person has been shadowbanned?

In your account page (https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=bobwaycott) you have the "showdead" option, which lets you see dead comments. You can then look a user's comment history by clicking on their nickname and on "comments". Shadowbanned users are those for whom all comments are automatically dead.

I had to create a new account since I lost password of my last one, but I had noticed in my last account that my submissions (not comments, but link submissions or Ask HN submission) would be shadowbanned right from the start? And this was on a fresh account that I had. Does HN shadowban by IP?

Email the mods via the Contact link in the footer and they can definitively determine why the account is shadow banned.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!