[raganwald]

Is the purpose of Hacker News to "Act as a PR tool for forcing corporations to do what we want rather than doing what they feel is in their self interest?"

If so, I'm ready to write a blog post whining about how HN doesn't do what I want and why I'm going to stop participating. I read HN to find articles that "Gratify my intellectual curiosity." That especially includes "Posts about new and interesting phenomena."

Proprietary platform vendors doing stuff that is not in the best interests of one, a few, or even many of their symbiotic developers is not a new and interesting phenomenon, and I find nothing in this post that adds value to any discussion about the relative risks and rewards of sharecropping in the iOS ecosystem.

Nor do I consider "data" to be the plural of "anecdote." Seeing one, a few, or many such posts doesn't add value to a decision I might make about developing for iOS. The dynamics of business are such that people are far more likely to whine about how unfair Apple is than to publish how much money they're making. Likewise, a whine is far more likely to attract votes on a site like HN because of the emotional dynamics of link bait.

I have nothing against the post or the fact that it may be interesting to many people on this site. But that doesn't make it Hacker News as described in the guidelines:

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

That being said...

  Please don't submit comments complaining that
  a submission is inappropriate for the site. If
  you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it 
  by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" 
  link. (Not all users will see this; there is a 
  karma threshold.) If you flag something, please 
  don't also comment that you did.

Mea Culpa.

[dhimes]

Proprietary platform vendors doing stuff that is not in the best interests of one, a few, or even many of their symbiotic developers is not a new and interesting phenomenon

I find it interesting. Feel free to skip those articles.

Nor do I consider "data" to be the plural of "anecdote." Seeing one, a few, or many such posts doesn't add value to a decision I might make about developing for iOS

Cute and oft-cited phrase, often used as in "my sciene-fu is stronger than your sciene-fu," but it misses an important part of science: early phenomenological and empirical data are important to show people where to look. An anecdotal episode of anthrax being inhibited by bread mold indicates to the intelligent mind that there might be something worth pursuing.

When I see these articles I absolutely start looking in that direction for irregularities. I suspect a lot of us do.

[raganwald]

> I find it interesting.

Note the expression "_new_ and interesting." I find articles about JQuery programming interesting as well. That doesn't make them Hacker News, and that's why I don't post them here and then tell you to skip them if you don't find them interesting.

> early phenomenological and empirical data are important...

Whose case are you arguing here, yours or mine? Early suggests new. These posts are not new or early, they are old and I do not see anything new in this one. And again, this is not empirical data.

I welcome someone investigating the matter and posting data such as a comparison of the number of new apps in the app store to the number being withdrawn, the number of new android developers vs. the number of new iOS developers, and so on. I would find such things interesting and useful.

If there is something new or early in this post, please point me to it so I may retract my objection. My mind is open to the possibility that it adds something to the myriad of similar rants posted here and elsewhere in the last year or more, I just need someone to show me what it is.

p.s. I disagree with your conclusion with respect to this post, but still upvoted your reply. I agree that when such things present a new direction for investigation, they are Hacker News as I prefer it. But at the end of the day... I am only one person with an opinion on how to interpret the guidelines.

[dhimes]

I believe I understand your points and I respectfully disagree (even over the term "new"), but we should probably leave it at that.

[raganwald]

If you understand me and I understand you, then we've both done a good job, "mission accomplished." Thanks for taking the time to explain yourself clearly and civilly.