Re:Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?
by jesuscript on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:09PM
(#34224362)
The best way to test this theory of skewed negativity is to find a product you are pleased with, go on Amazon, and pull up all the low star reviews.
You would have never guessed just how wrong and loud comments can be.
Re:Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?
by blowski on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:00PM
(#34224262)
Some of my HN comments will simultaneously have only very critical replies and lots of upvotes. It’s hard to interpret that.
Re:Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?
by hugs_vs_toph on Monday January 02, 2023 @05:19PM
(#34224484)
It means you are popular with the plebs while smart people disagree with you.
Re:Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?
by s1artibartfast on Monday January 02, 2023 @08:10PM
(#34226192)
Possible, but not necessarily. Commenters aren't always more patrician or knowledgeable, just more motivated.
Examples of vocal minorities abound.
Re:Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?
by marginalia_nu on Monday January 02, 2023 @08:52PM
(#34226533)
I'll frequently upvote something I disagree with because it's interesting.
If you don't account for this you'll come away with the impression that nobody gets value from the thoughts you've put out, when the reality may be the opposite.
Sites like HN with upvotes help a bit with balancing this signal, but it's still a bit disheartening at times. You have to consciously think about it and convince yourself it's the case, probably before even publishing, certainly before reading the comments!
If you're interested I wrote a blog post [0] covering aspects of this that you may enjoy (which went to the HN front page, so you can see the comments Vs upvotes on that post itself -- yep this is getting meta rather quickly :-)
[0] https://davnicwil.com/tips-for-making-writing-more-fun/