

How to Derail an HN Thread - matmann2001

I came across an interesting observation in a rising Ask HN thread (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=6999429).<p>The question asks about FizzBuzz equivalent tests for other fields.  But if you go check out the comments, all you&#x27;ll find is one person&#x27;s answer to the actual question, and rest of HN arguing about the answer to the commenter&#x27;s response and its explanation.<p>Why do you think this happens?  The question is FizzBuzz level of difficulty and there&#x27;s no physical or external reward for the right answer.  But the question managed to derail the thread so hard, that everyone seemed to forget the original question entirely.<p>Are we trying to prove something to each other or ourselves?  Or perhaps our inner geek just can&#x27;t stand to let a question go unanswered?  How many days in the 21st century have dates in which the numbers of the month and day add up to the last 2 digits of the year (1&#x2F;2&#x2F;03, 1+2=3)?
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hardwaresofton
Trying not to sound smug, but it's just humans being humans, welcome to the
internet.

Sidenote - Try and find a large group of people communicating in real life
that don't have this problem (should be pretty difficult)

