The funny part (to me) is that it was already obvious you use Linux or mac -- some flavor of (star)nix -- because you said you keep a Windows install at the ready. That implies to me that Windows isn't your primary OS. I keep a Windows install at the ready too, for a whole bunch of reasons that have nothing to do with how much I like or dislike Windows.

I would love to be able to remember regex specifics from lib to lib and app to app, but try as I might, I can't. I never know if I have lookaheads or backrefs or named captures available and what the syntax is, I can't remember if there are named character classes. I end up reading the docs, again, almost every time I dig into a regex problem. Same reason for me- I use too many flavors of regex libs. If I could stick to one language, I'd have some hope.

I haven't tried RegexBuddy, but now I'm going to because of your comment, thanks for sharing!

I'm sorry you feel that way, that sounds like maybe you've had some bad experiences here and are turning pessimistic about HN. Just because it happens doesn't mean it's universally accepted. Personally I would say exactly the same thing in response to the above comment if it was talking about Linux instead of windows and had nothing substantive to support it. Yes, you can find people who agree with any insults you want to throw out, but how about we try to be the good guys instead?

Find some awesomeness here on HN -- there's a lot of that too -- and comment about it. Build something and show it off or support someone else who's built something cool. Write comments that contribute meaningfully and are positive and you will find more upvotes than you can possibly imagine, if upvotes are what you're going for. And you're right, you can find lots of upvotes (and downvotes too) by judging other people's legitimate choices without even bothering to understand them, but that doesn't make HN a better place, it doesn't help anyone learn, and it might not make you happy in the long run either, even if it's fun for you at the time.

We get to decide if this place is cool and supportive and fun to play in, or lame and thorny and dangerous to share any of your thoughts for fear someone will be an ass about it and insult your choice of tools. I choose the former, and I'm happy to spread the love and request that people refrain from trying to knock others down or engage in flame wars.

I generally upvote people who reply to me just as a way to say thanks for reading what I wrote and engaging with me. Here's one for you. I hope you'll find more peace on HN and get exposure to more of the positive side of it. There are some incredibly amazing people here, and it's true there are also some destructive forces too. I hope you can let the crap roll off and seek out more of the good stuff!