What Kate saw in Silicon Valley

Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by kyro on Monday August 31, 2009 @04:43PM (#796677)

I am in no way trying to be disrespectful here, but if you rely on an online forum to keep you from going crazy, you might want to consider restructuring your priorities and workflow to give you a little more time to breathe and enjoy life. An online community is great and all, but there are millions of other, more tangible and real world, things that can be as, if not and most likely more, rewarding than participating on HN.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by wheels on Monday August 31, 2009 @05:16PM (#796739)

Actually I've noticed that online communities can provide some sort of minimum level of social interaction required to keep one sane. I don't think it's a good strategy for long-term social interaction, but if you're going through a phase of your life where you're optimizing all parameters for maximum productivity while staying 1% south of jumping the shark, it kind of makes sense.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by abalashov on Monday August 31, 2009 @06:05PM (#796826)

I don't think he was being entirely literal, quite to the extreme that would warrant your didactic prescription.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by randallsquared on Monday August 31, 2009 @04:47PM (#796683)

there are millions of other, more tangible and real world, things that can be as, if not and most likely more, rewarding than participating on HN.

Well, that depends strongly on the person, doesn't it? :)

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by kyro on Monday August 31, 2009 @04:55PM (#796700)

The point of that comment was to what? Refute that there aren't other things more rewarding than HN and dependent on the type of person, having HN be the only thing keeping you from insanity is perfectly fine and healthy?

Apologies for sounding trollish, but I'm somewhat shocked at the reactions here. We have someone telling us that they work themselves into such a lonely place that the only thing keeping them sane is HN, and yet no one is suggesting he reorder his life and find a better balance so that he can find more enjoyment.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by randallsquared on Monday August 31, 2009 @05:10PM (#796728)

Well, I don't actually think that edw519 is, in actual fact, in danger of going insane due to loneliness, since I assumed, as I would guess most did, that he was using "go nuts" casually, in the way that people say things like, "Wow, if the Cubs don't win the Series after that streak, I'll just die" without meaning that they will actually cease living should their team fail.

I don't think you're sounding trollish, but I do think you may not be treating this forum as a casual social setting in which people sometimes make statements to convey a feeling, rather than because they are literally true.

Edit: I forgot to say:

I also think that for a lot of people who hang out here, and to a lesser extent on proggit, etc, this online community really is one of the most fun, engaging things they have available to do. Conversation online with those who are interested in similar topics could easily trump conversation in person with those whose interests bore you. Even if we grant that being in the real world is an important attribute of "fun things to do", it's unlikely to be the most important.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by kyro on Monday August 31, 2009 @05:41PM (#796781)

I get the casual context, but that's not to say there could still be an imbalance. I do agree with the rest of your comment and will try and not take things a little too literally.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by robryan on Monday August 31, 2009 @11:19PM (#797272)

This is a good point, a lot of the time your unable to discuss technical concepts/ ideas/ research with the people around me the same way you can online with people who have a large depth of knowleadge in the areas that your interested.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by billswift on Monday August 31, 2009 @04:53PM (#796697)

Maybe, but interacting with people directly is more distracting than HN too.

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Re:What Kate saw in Silicon Valley by delano on Monday August 31, 2009 @05:25PM (#796750)

It's difficult to engage with someone while you put a thought on the back burner for 5 or 10 minutes.

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