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by thebigshane 5086 days ago
enneff: his post is FUD and you are right and on every Go thread here, there are always some people to needlessly bash it. And while I appreciate your frankness as a developer advocate for Go, I think your points would go over more smoothly if you weren't so defensive about it. I notice you have been a bit curt with the criticisms.

I like Go, and I have also seen that nearly all people who actually get to the step of writing Go code also like it. It doesn't look too good on paper (compared to Clojure etc) but it works really well in practice and that's awesome.
2 comments
enneff 5086 days ago
You're right, I could have been more even handed. I just get frustrated when people bring nothing but negativity, seemingly for negativity's sake alone. I should just respond on a purely factual level, but sometimes it's hard.
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rabbitfang 5086 days ago
In order to be FUD I would need to be spreading false information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

As I have pointed out everything in my post was factually accurate. I had no intention of spreading misinformation.

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thebigshane 5086 days ago
Learning a new language is an investment and by investing (or not investing) you have made a commitment to that choice. People usually continue to justify/rationalize that decision long after the original choice.

Although your post may not be considered "spreading misinformation", it seems like an "attempt to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious [...] information".

The bottom line is that people who have committed effort into Go/Clojure/Scala/etc tend justify it by hyping it up a bit. Those that decided to not commit any effort (or commit effort in a different/competing language) tend to justify their choice by bashing the language publicly. If you decided to ignore Go and stick with C/C++/Java/Python, fine, that's your prerogative. But why come to a thread about it and post about how you are going to ignore it? Do you want others to ignore it as well? Why? The truth is you probably didn't consciously decide to do it. But it happens all of the time in discussions online and offline.

more info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-purchase_rationalization someone who purchases an expensive product or service overlooks any faults or defects in order to justify their purchase.

and my favorite: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/03/25/the-sunk-cost-fallacy...

  The Misconception: You make rational decisions based on 
  the future value of objects, investments and experiences.

  The Truth: Your decisions are tainted by the emotional 
  investments you accumulate, and the more you invest in 
  something the harder it becomes to abandon it.
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