[acoard]

The top comment on HN for any given topic is usually contrarian. It's in our cultural DNA. Perhaps the effect is intensified for some topics like tech giants — I haven't noticed — but keep an eye out and you'll see it happening everywhere.

I have a hazy memory of even seeing this effect on HN given a proper name at some point in the past.

As to why, I think it's largely cultural or found in personality traits that techies and hackers often have. Most us techies have a desire to "well, actually", even if we know it's rude and have learned to suppress or positively channel that urge. But at the end of the day, by proving something wrong, however pedantic, we get to prove we're smart. That's why the percentage of pedantry is probably higher on here and Wikipedia than on TikTok and Snapchat.

[latexr]

> I have a hazy memory of even seeing this effect on HN given a proper name at some point in the past.

The contrarian dynamic: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

[bagacrap]

does this mean hners prefer expressing their opinion by picking apart strawman arguments? It's certainly one way to start a conversation. "I'm going to upvote this article because it gives me a chance to debunk the argument."