>It would be interesting on HN if we developed a habit of interrogating everyone for their credentials and shouting them down immediately if they're just another software engineer.

That would be horrible but anyone who is a specialist in a field knows how consistently wrong the HN hivemind is on any subject outside the realm of software. This place is perhaps the biggest community of people who overestimate their knowledge on any subject when in reality they have little knowledge/expertise in said subject.

The encouraging thing about HN is that much of the community seems aware of the propensity for software engineers to think they have the answer to all the problems of the world. IMO, acknowledging that and not taking ourselves too seriously helps keep this forum from completely degenerating into another Reddit.

>IMO, acknowledging that and not taking ourselves too seriously helps keep this forum from completely degenerating into another Reddit.

Ironic, because many people here seem to believe not taking ourselves too seriously will lead to this forum degenerating into another Reddit.

Touché. I guess I'm describing my wishes more than reality.

I think your parent commenter literally said “yes” to your question.

It didn’t sound like an interrogation, it sounded more like a brick wall of “this conversation is over.”

There are definitely diplomatic ways to say this to people or change the subject.

People get the polite one the first time, and the undiplomatic “I’m not interested in your opinion” the second time.

When people ask me, I usually say “I have no idea, we’re all stuck on this ride until the end”.

> It would be interesting on HN if we developed a habit of interrogating everyone for their credentials and shouting them down immediately if they're just another software engineer.

HN is a rich source of ironic behavior indeed.