[JudgeWapner]

what turns me off about HN is how most of the conversations are argumentative and not productive discussion. I don't understand why the urge to correct or invalidate other peoples' ideas is so pervasive. Is it an appeal to control? Is it a subconscious ploy to be liked and accepted by finding a "weak idea" and attempting to destroy it, so that others will fear and revere you? Is it a yearning to be noticed and appreciated for how smart you are? I sense this layer of hostility lying about 1mm below the figurative skin of most of the commenters here. The moderation is strong here, so the hostility is usually cloaked under innocent sounding barbs like "what an odd thing to say" or "I'm baffled at <what you said>". No, you're not "baffled", you're shooting a barb at that person by trying to alienate them and making it sound like their comment was so bizarre and nonsensical that it left you "baffled" when really you just disagree with it so much you're signalling that you won't even attempt to consider it.

Another great one is "you're getting confused about ___". Nice casual drive-by insult on their intelligence.

I really wish the mods had just capped total users on HN, years ago. Maybe open it up (silently) once or twice a year to keep a minimum number of engaged commentary. But it's essentially the same thing as reddit was 5 years ago.