

xkcd on the comment policy of News.YC - ivankirigin
http://xkcd.com/438/

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bouncingsoul
This is often touted as the solution to comment meanness (even here in HN's
guidelines), but I think it's too simple to help. Politeness isn't inherent to
real-world interaction: people are mean in face-to-face conversation too.

Of course there is some difference in face-to-face debate. Probably blatant,
irrelevant personal attacks decrease, for example. But that is more because
they are instant debate killers since the other person will likely just walk
away. The more integrated meanness – hostility, caustic zingers, and the
overall drive to embarrass your opponent – is definitely still present.

I think the issue isn't the separation between the two people debating: it's
that other people are standing around watching. The _publicness_ of comments
is what leads to nasty behavior. Comment threads end up not being two people's
search for truth, but their attempts to impress and gain audience support. It
becomes a performance.

And I don't think people necessarily intend to do it – it's something you
sorta fall into. You may realize you're sacrificing any chance to sway your
opponents by being mean or embarrassing them, but the thought of a hundred
other people admiring your ass-handing abilities or laughing at your stinging
zinger can make the sacrifice seem worthwhile.

To help me be a better commenter I don't ask, "What would I say if this was
face to face?" I ask, "What would I say if no one else could see this but the
person I'm arguing with?"

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asdflkj
I think the face-to-face rule is a bad one. Even PG in his Things You Can't
Say concludes that you shouldn't say certain things to anyone but close
friends, valuable though these ideas may be.

Of coure, that only applies face-to-face. If you are anonymous on the
internet, as I am on this forum, you don't have to self-censor. And yet, I do
it anyway, just because the spirit of conformity and self-censorship permeates
this place so much. My comments were better on Reddit, when Reddit was still
worth going to. And so were the comments of others.

Quality of the average comment is not what matters. It's the quality of the
best comments that does. If you eliminate half of the top 5% and all of bottom
50% of comments, you've made the community worse.

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swombat
The cartoon is cool, like every other xkcd cartoon, but has nothing whatsoever
to do with News.YC.

~~~
ivankirigin
"Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation."
<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

~~~
whacked_new
Is it really "on news.yc" as much as Buddha's (or whomever) teachings is "on
news.yc"? I believe that's swombat's argument.

~~~
sc
Right. Unfortunately the title evokes "Great Job Redditors! We Got ___ To Do
___!"

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edw519
For future reference, instead of arguing with me, just have your angel put
this into her GPS:

Latitude: 40.441333

Longitude: -79.769018

I'll have beer for you and nectar for her.

~~~
ovi256
Monroeville, next to the 376 near Pittsburgh huh? Yeah, I digitally stalked
you on Google Maps:
[http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Latitude%3A%2040.441333%20Long...](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Latitude%3A%2040.441333%20Longitude%3A%20-79.769018&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl)

~~~
edw519
Right. You just won a free beer at the Penn Monroe.

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alaskamiller
I think it's adorable how the karma points went up and down in this thread.
Who are you people upvoting and downvoting, because I would really really like
to meet you folks face to face.

