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by dang 2767 days ago
As someone who has to deal with groups on the internet often (I'm a moderator here), I know how upsetting that can feel. May I offer a tip? Try to remember that the vast majority of the community isn't reacting this way. It's just that most people don't comment.

When you post to HN or elsewhere on the internet, you're broadcasting to a large crowd. Somebody somewhere is probably going to get triggered—that's just statistics. But when it's a public forum, those are the ones who show up to vent their spleen. So comment sections are weighted towards these sorts of reactions, not because they represent the community, but because it's a self-selecting, biased sample.

This leads to the community seeming a lot more negative than it is, which sucks. The only solution I know of is to give more attention to the other data you have: e.g. the upvotes, and any traffic to your site. That's a challenge, because we're hard-wired to take personal communication more seriously, and comments feel like personal communication (though really aren't).

1 comments

Thank you, I shall try to think more like this. Indeed I am focusing on a minority here - I had great success either way with >700 users, >4K views and $420 from supporters in just 1 day. I should be more grateful of that, instead of focusing my energy on closed-minded people.