Yes, it's always struck me that many 37signals posts are lathered in passive-aggressive envy regarding other businesses rather than just getting on with their own. The only good 37signals post I can remember that wasn't of that kind, or just trite advice, was the nice photos of their office environments. It constantly amazes me how much coverage they get on HN. But I guess a lot of people use RoR as a breadwinner and have a connection in that way to them.

If you look at another "builder of tools the community uses" like, say, Linus it's different. His blog doesn't really make it onto HN, as it's often personal, whereas his G+ posts sometimes do. His G+ posts are usually about something specific though rather than recycled trash from popular business / personal wealth books - not looking at anyone in particular - with some added passive-aggressive venom towards the more successful.