[Teever]

I just closed another post on HN because the top thread descended into some bullshit semantics pissing contest so I come here and see the same.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed an increase in arguing over the meaning of words on HN lately?

[kergonath]

I’ve noticed that as well. It beggars belief that people are seriously arguing about applying a centuries-old foreign metaphors about kings to modern large corporations. That’s straight over Pedantic territory into the Obnoxious Contrarian wilderness. Sigh…

[coldtea]

Sorry, but you've just noticed it?

Wars about semantics have been standard fare on geekdom since the dawn of time, and on Hacker News since the dawn of Arc.

What appears as "Obnoxious Contrarian wilderness" is good-old hacker "well, actually" pendanticness (with some sprinkling of on-the-spectrum focus on details and semantics).

[kergonath]

> Sorry, but you've just noticed it?

Yes, I have noticed “an increase in arguing over the meaning of words on HN lately”. I also know how to discuss the meaning of words and how they form the context of a conversation, once taken together.

> Wars about semantics have been standard fare on geekdom since the dawn of time, and on Hacker News since the dawn of Arc.

Sure, and I enjoy very much some pedantry (and am not above doing my bit every now and then), but that’s not the point. If someone wants to have a heated discussion about how a centuries-old metaphor would apply to the kings of France but not to a multinational company, then sure, have at it, as long as you don’t derail otherwise useful threads. I will just opt out of spending my time that way and instead get some interesting pedantry.

I must admit I am not really sure what image you want to imply by “dawn of Arc”, though it does go a bit with the French king vibe. Would you care to explicit a little?

> What appears as "Obnoxious Contrarian wilderness" is good-old hacker "well, actually" pendanticness (with some sprinkling of on-the-spectrum focus on details and semantics).

Pedantry and semantics are fine, and indeed one of the reasons why I am here. But the point beyond that has to be knowledge and enlightenment, otherwise it’s just, yes, obnoxious. There is also a thin line between a good “well actually” and a nuisance (not even talking about bad faith trolling).

Please note that I did not address any of the people in question, because that would be stupid, rude, and counter-productive. I am happy if they have their arguments on their side. I was just replying to a fellow commenter that they were not alone with that feeling. There’s no need to be rude about it.

[dragonwriter]

> I must admit I am not really sure what image you want to imply by “dawn of Arc”

Arc is a Lisp dialect invented by PG whose main notable use is that it is the implementation language for HN: the “dawn of Arc” is thus a flowery way of saying something like “the first concrete steps to the creation of HN”.

[kergonath]

Interesting, I did not know that. Thanks!

[coldtea]

>There’s no need to be rude about it.

I'm sorry, then! (Was I tho? I thought I answered mostly matter-of-factly)

[arcanemachiner]

Nerds have been arguing online about irrelevant pedantry as long as the Internet has been around. And this place attracts some pretty hardcore nerds.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

I'd guess it's a timing thing. This site likes to prioritize more highly the "current" discussions which are generating upvotes as long as they're not also generating a ton of downvotes.

[coldtea]

>Is it just me or has anyone else noticed an increase in arguing over the meaning of words on HN lately?

Depends on what you mean by increase, arguing, and words.

[throwaway742]

It's unironically one of the things I like about this site.