[ikanreed]

Sure, but also as an adult, you're expected to have learned some resilience to failure. You're expected to be able to be able to withstand some criticism and see negativity as a chance to improve.

I know it doesn't always work that way, but a lot of times our failures aren't just "on us", but affect others.

[jajko]

You are being too generous. Talk to most people over 50 (not even dragging current politics into this). Some have (still) some critical thinking, but a lot of them have their opinions set in stone, ego adequately high, and criticism is taken very defensively, you end up in 'other' camp, stonewalled.

It may not be the audience here so much, but average folks out there?

[flir]

Those kids today. Have you tried telling them they're wrong? The idea that you might have actually learned things, rather than spending fifty years staring at a blank wall utterly passes them by. Cancel you as soon as look at you, most of 'em.

[dripton]

I'm amused that the original ageist response ("old people suck") is left alone and the parody of the original ageist response ("young people suck") is downvoted. I would expect a bit better from HN readers, though any community that becomes popular enough devolves to average-at-best.

[flir]

Thanks. I'm torn on a response. On the one hand, HN was always bad at reading between the lines - even quite broad lines. On the other hand, maybe I'm just not as funny as I think I am, and that's what they're downvoting.