[ryandamm]

Great, detailed response -- I learned a lot from this, so thank you. Also, I think it's hilarious/curious that the actual economist's response is buried in a thread.

Internet message boards (yes, even HN's) are not kind to actual expertise.

[grzm]

> Also, I think it's hilarious/curious that the actual economist's response is buried in a thread.

> Internet message boards (yes, even HN's) are not kind to actual expertise

Would you elaborate on this, in particular what you mean by buried? I'm assuming you're referring to 'spangry's responses. Given the nature of threading and where 'spangry chose to respond, I don't see how it could be anywhere other that where it is. As of the posting of this comment, both of 'spangry's responses are the highest of its siblings. Are you thinking of a different model of threading or highlighting highly-upvoted comments?

[ryandamm]

Sure, I'll elaborate, but it may not be terribly illuminating.

As for why it's "hilarious" (okay, overstatemetn) -- it's not really a critique of how comments work -- more just that this is sort of an off-topic subject matter for the audience, and spangry is trying to reply to a comment.

If I were spangry, I would've replied to the post itself. I think HN commenters are pretty thoughtful, and his detailed post probably would've risen to the top, and enhanced the overall conversation.

So the right way to read my snark is more as a commentary on the fact that economics is a technical subject, but most technical readers at this site are technical in different ways. I would assume the top comment (and attendant conversation) would be spot-on for the latest framework or software technology, though.