> you'll get plenty of attention

But qualitatively different attention IMHO.

Great looking guy with zero personality: shallow attention e.g. one-night stands or pure accessory.

Ugly guy with great personality: veer towards long-term relationships or maybe friend-zoning.

Disagree. If you think that is true of you, then maybe you don't have as great a personality as you think you do. Women love funny, confident guys.

Ha ha!

Actually I was talking about what I have seen in friends and acquaintances, although I have seen exceptions too.

Might depend upon country too...

This is a lot more incel-y than I am accustomed to seeing on HackerNews.

I see a lot of incel-y talk on HN. Some of it seems predicated on Silicon Valley as a gold rush town, with men outnumbering women ten to one and the women taking that in a mercenary opportunity. Almost any discussion of dating will turn up a lot of such views.

A long way off-topic, but any talk of incel is likely to be taken as an insult (although some use it in a positive way). The word definitely doesn’t apply to me! Personally, I have never even heard the word used within my own social circles (some of which are geeky).

The hn crowd seems to be particularly international to me - making assumptions based on SV seems wierd. I am in New Zealand with a normal ratio of genders, and plenty of social situations to meet women since we have no lockdown, however I have heard that NZ has far too many sheep.

On topic: I am acquainted with one world-competing female body-builder. She comes across as extremely competent at the other parts of her life (good artist, good at running her own business).