> is pretty unforgiving to any thoughts that don't fit one of a couple of echo chamber themes.

sounds better in ther converse: "it's pretty forgiving of thoughts that do go along the predilect tropes"

Which thoughts? Are you talking about the liberal echo-chamber downvote squad, the americana/patriot downvote squad, or something else?

I've only been coming to this site for maybe 5 years now (not under this account in case people do the lame reddit thing of checking your account history at the drop of a hat), but I feel like even in that time things have become noticeably more echo-y here.

Hacker News is just Reddit plus a thesaurus.

It takes long, hard work to accumulate the knowledge and experience to be able to consistently say things that matter. It’s impossible to fake, and an astute crowd will always spot it.

The Luke-in-Yoda’s-hut scene pops to mind.

I wonder how many people in this thread had heard of Georgette Heyer but not "The Luke-in-Yoda’s-hut scene".

Even after looking up the script, I have no idea what you are saying.

The commenter above asked: "But how does one gather a reputation such that whatever I say will be read mindfully and not just dismissed right out when I start to make reasoning leaps all around? the most direct way is to simply repeat what other people with a reputation have said; to preach to the choir."

Yoda challenged Luke by telling him he was too old to begin the training, and that a Jedi "craves not" things like adventure and excitement. People have varying degrees of awareness about how much work it is and how long it takes to gain meaningful knowledge and experience. They are impatient, they want shortcuts, they think "likes" are important, they give up. Luke says: "you want the impossible", but of course it's not impossible, just profoundly abstruse.

Some americans went insane after Trump won in 2016 and the media fed that insanity for harvesting clicks.

As a reaction, the "with me or against me" mantra was increasingly strong for the last four and a half years.

I hope people calm down again now that that its over.