However like the author I’ve noticed myself becoming increasingly cynical about tech, and the world. This is a very bad attitude to have for any startup ambitions, where optimism (bordering on irrationality) is necessary to succeed. So I want to start reading other things more often.
What other communities are there that are more optimistic, but still have a similar level of intelligence, experience etc?
1. https://kg.dev/thoughts/i-love-you-hn-but-youre-toxic
The talk videos are on youtube. There's also since recently a !!Con West, and possibly others. !!Con encourages people to start their own !!Con, wherever in the world they live.
Other complex gaming forums are great too - Paradox, Aurora 4X. Lots of hobbyist forums are great too, as long as they're not too 'normie', but discovering them has become more difficult with Reddit dominating search results.
The diversity in these places are a lot better too. It's not just tech bros, there are those who work blue collar jobs and those who work different fields, come from different countries.
If I were going to start up a new company I would want a significant team of cynical people and think-tanks to pick apart my ideas and plans. Having said that I would take all the input with a grain of salt being the worst case scenario but I would not waste that information and would have my board members debate each and every point that members of HN brought up. We would risk rank each item and assign a score based on whatever metrics we can get and integrate that into our business plans and SEC paperwork.
Why would I want to subject myself and others to this? I have lived through the dot-bomb era of investors and business leaders wearing rose tinted glasses then making off with money leaving a pile of dust in their wake and putting many people out of work and holding worthless stock certificates. This is still a thing to a lesser degree. I believe this uncomfortable exercise could lend itself to showing an attempt at due diligence of fiduciary responsibility.
All of that said I can see how a product developer could find this exercise disheartening.
Even so, as others have noted, simply ignoring the comment section on most posts will keep the mood less negative. Then when you see a post about something you’re really interested in, dive into the comments after reading the main content.
People will feel much more compelled to comment a negative experiences, because if the experience is positive that is just what was expected by default from the "brochure"
Example: if I go travel a week to an 5* hotel and all goes well, I won't even think of it, but if something is not pleasant, I'll sure go online google map reviews, yelp, trip advisor, and tell others that product/service is a scam
Although I do ask myself every time I go to find a movie or TV series to watch, why most choices main theme is based on negative things like: Murder, drugs, crime, sex abuse, detectives, horror, shooting... Maybe society has a stronger negative feedback loop
Seeking good natured nerding on a venture-capital sponsored "tech news" site, however much "better than Reddit" the members depict it (I've found fun communities on sub-reddits, FWIW...) is a recipe for sadness... this place exists to kick tires and act skeptical. it's a sounding board where reactions to ideas react with each other, for better or worse. It's not to devalue what we have here, but to recognize what it is, and not seek to squeeze orange juice from bicycle locks.
Consider it deeply before you flag it.
Doesn't mean it's bad it's just less interesting than it was 5 years ago.
Another startup idea from a person who just want to have a startup/unicorn.
Another hack.
Another blog article about security deep dive.
Another retro post of someone doing something like running win95 somewhere or doom running on a pregnancy test.
There are articles which I accept that I will read them but understood the basics very fast but I will not retain all those details because either you would need to learn them like you do with vocabulary or something else long lasting.
So I have to accept that it becomes casual reading
News basically.
:)
The world sucks, you can either ignore it or embrace it.
The problem is that your emotional state and your brain is literally under the control of shit you read on the internet. So now you're asking for different shit to read. It's basically a TV addict asking for a better channel. Maybe stop watching TV all day? Unplug, meditate, reclaim your brain.
When someone says "that's not possible" it's a challenge for you to prove otherwise not a discouragement to give up. Adversarial thinking is a fundamental component of critical thinking.
It's not others' sentiment that is toxic, it is your lack of perspective and willingness to subject your views and convictions to negative, critical and adversarial opposition and come out unscathed because not only is you optimism that strong, it is correct (hopefully).
It's like those people on sharktank that get wound up over Kevin O'Leary. I mean, he does lack tact and manners but that aside they should have anticipated his cynical and critical response and prepared a counter argument every single time. At worst their idea sounds better to other sharks and the tv audience, at best you can convince him by showing he can be wrong and you do know more than him and your confidence is not founded in wishful thinking but in facts, reason and reality.
In the end my friend, you can only have one priority and your success should be that priority. Thinking wishful thinking and unfounded and unquestioned optimism will get you there is a fool's errand in my opinion.
"Critical thinking is good; shallow cynicism, on the other hand, adds nothing of value to the community. It is unpleasant to read and detracts from actual work. If you have something important but negative to say, that’s fine, but say it in a respectful way.
Negativity isn’t the problem–gratuitous negativity is. By that we mean negativity that adds nothing of substance to a comment. This includes all forms of meanness."
