But it destroys society, which is infinitely more important than software and hardware.

I think the fairly mild complaining about software trends is fundamentally different than the societal level rage we see fomenting politically on the extremes. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment though.

I don't think the discontent on HN is in any way representative of discontent in the real world.

Really? I have the opposite impression, and I have noticed a gradual shift in tone on HN during the past decade that mirrors that which has happened in the world at large. There was always some discontent and negativity of course, but in style and sheer volume, today's HN has changed almost beyond recognition compared to what it was like in 2013.

I dunno dude, it used to be worse I think [1, 2]. Also everyone was bitching about the TSA all the time. Maybe the flame topics are more mainstream now that the low-level IT people outnumber the startup people?

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1287212 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1287573

One can argument that gamification and marketing destroy the society. Marketing specially.

maybe discontent is good for a product within a company, but if your end user has lots of complaints and is not having a great experience, that's not a good thing at all