Sure does. Faraday stopped his EM experiments, not cuz of ignorant ppl, but "great" mathematicians of the day were mocking him for his lack of math skills. Without those experiments, no one would have ever dreamt up electromagnetism. And on the flip side, "qualified" ppl who couldnt grok the math of Maxwell or Heaviside, would dismiss the math as just too complex. This type of stuff happens all the time. Social media amplifies it. But you just have to find good ppl and ignore the herd to make progress. And dont mistake capturing Attention on Social Media or HN for progress.