[Irongirl1]

Well, I got flagged, told to get a "thicker skin" etc so I just gave up. For me, HN has come to mean "only contribute if you already agree with the position we already hold." Dissent, or a different way of looking at things, will not be tolerated so I stopped contributing and went back to enjoying HN for its article curation.

[LEDThereBeLight]

I don’t know if that’s fair. I’ve learned a lot from dissenting arguments despite what any of the posted replies might say - I just don’t respond saying so, so you’d never know. I think there’s value in dissenting if you believe the more popular opinion is wrong, even if doing so invites criticism. It’s not that hackernews doesn’t “tolerate” it, they do, it’s just that you’re necessarily going to get people bitching at you when you say something polarizing.

[Irongirl1]

That's the thing-I don't believe it was polarizing and I am tired of being a woman online who gets attacked. HN is just the latest space where it happened. It hardly matters...I don't miss contributing. And quite frankly, I don't get paid to teach rocks. If I worked in an industry with a 90% failure rate, I'd be wondering what I could do differently. But techies don't seem to notice or care...or the bankers don't, but either way, I don't want to grow a thicker skin.

Here in the USA, that's a huge chunk of our problem. I doubt citizens in most 1st world countries that count, like the Scandies, would stand around taking video while cops murder a man in cold blood on the street right in front of their faces. I'd say our skin is plenty thick enough...and that's we get so much wrong.