I agree, as long as you realize that vim/emacs, static/dynamic, frontend/backend, etc., are all Ideological issues, and not technical ones. :-)

...and jokes are generally not treated well either, unless it's Friday.

This isn't my experience. I occasionally make pretty strong statements about traditionally polarizing technical topics, and I find that people are a lot more likely to respect differing opinions than when talking about, eg, urban planning or politics.

Absolutely my experience too, tech is not really controversial.

But discussions on health, religion and culture that is where the downvotes are used.

If you can accept that premise, then HN is a great place to be. Reddit is just not in the same league when it comes to thoughtful, well-articulated discussions where you get some great insights.

> tech is not really controversial

Unless it is a topic about Rust and how it is better or worse than C++.

Try to make a claim C++ is better, and nobody is going to read your bullet point explanations, you just get tons of downvotes.

(I'm not claiming anything is better or worse in this comment, I only present an example.)

Weird. Saying the same thing a few comments down earned me several down votes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27983945