Why does HN get more hateful everyday?

People have much more free time than they used to have and also are actively deciding to spend that extra time criticizing the macro-sphere. Macro-economics, macro-politics, macro-society etc as opposed to the micro-sphere which would be their personal lives , their homes, their families, their neighborhoods etc

As a result of this the sentiment is that institutions are less credible than ever, and in the worst shape they have ever been. But that is only because there are people criticising them more than ever, whereas such people would be busy living their lives beforehand

So people like OP who would love to break out either via personal branding or by being at the helm of an institution are disappointed and yearn for the old days when people weren’t so critical of institutions. Regretting the good old days is never a good thing but in this case it’s also meritless because becoming an institution nowadays is easier than ever, while in the past the barrier was geography and location, nowadays it’s one’s ability to withstand hatred and public criticism .

This is good! Because it filters out people who want to become institutions for the wrong reasons (be loved by everybody and not be criticised ever) and only practical individuals remain in the arena (those who are aiming for conspicuous consumption).

So to summarize . Fear not OP it’s the easiest time ever for becoming a millionaire, but if you do it for the wrong reasons such as being admired by others or above criticism then you are sabotaging yourself .

Also money doesn’t buy you love, but it does buy luxury escorts and boats, and that kinda the same thing.

The American Dream is alive and well, and it has always been about chasing conspicuous consumption (or the ability to do so).

I don’t know where this trend of being in need to be loved by everybody started but it has to do with insecurity and anxiety.

There is (1) irritation, and (2) the things that people get irritated about. It doesn't make sense to talk about (1) without (2) or (2) without (1). (The irritators to a person will insist that they are innocent and that all the blame lies on the irritated but they keep doing what they are doing despite the negativity.)

Toxic positivity about, say, crypto, has a link to toxic negativity.

here is my (simplified) take :

> big tech is bad > why can't people just move on

Big tech has come to signify great power in the 2010s (Market capitalisation is just the clearest sign). Fighting a goliath is never a subtle affair. A lot of people (and I guess Hackers) feel the need to counter that force at the slightest occasion, whatever the means necessary.

So, it is the fear of absolute power that makes us hateful.

> startups shouldn't do promotions > don’t make me pay you

Similarly, in the 2010s, Start-ups has come to signify (infinite) growth and flush money, whatever their real situation really is. And there are so many of them that we seem to have acquired a sort of "promotion fatigue" we only overcome with add-values like OSS.

So it is the market-saturation that makes us tired, and the (apparent) easy-money that makes us unwilling to give ours.

Tired, hateful, cynical... These are the side effects of "tech growth".

I believe that America itself has become a hateful society. HN just reflects what we Americans have become. It has become so bad that I tend to avoid social contact anymore.

It used to be that people believed that opportunity isn't a zero sum game. Sometime in the last 10-15 years (perhaps after the great recession) the emphasis started to shift on equality of outcome and people started realizing that this new game is zero sum. After all there are limited number of desirable spots in any arena (high paying jobs, leadership positions, college admissions...). We have become hoarders, and hoarders often have bleak outlook.

>big tech is bad,

Yes, the internet can be toxic, and sometimes that means that we have to talk about that and who made it that way and why. Sometimes that is a little ugly and complicated. We don't always agree on how it could be made better, though in general I think we want it to be. Those who don't are still on Twitter.