Excellent points and very well said. Recently I have been starting to feel down about myself and I noticed that it had to do with reading Hacker News and estimating my value through the lens of this startup value system. Despite the obvious talent and intelligence in this community, as you pointed out, if you are constantly face to face with a value system that is at odds with yours you will either (a) decide that it is not for you and walk away or (b) if you are of a more impressionable mindset, you may start to wonder why you don't match up. In my case, I have been finding the latter, at the expense of my self-esteem. So perhaps, as you suggested, I should take a break from HN for a while, as seductive as it is both in terms of content as well as the quality of the discussions.

Thanks for articulating that so well.