Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Your demo gif doesn't convey your idea __at all__. What is going on in it? To me it just looks like you are typing in a hello world function in jaavascript... where does the snippet portion come in? After I create a snippet, how do I use them in my current project and current editor? I really think you need to create demos showcasing these use cases cause as of right now i'm confused as to why this project even exists.


Here, I rewrote your comment to say the same things in a friendlier way. There are nicer ways to provide feedback.

> I would recommend updating your demo GIF to more accurately portray the idea. Perhaps instead of just typing the function into the text editor, it should also convey how snippets can be saved and reused at a later point. This would give me a better idea of how to utilize the project.


Stet.

The comment wasn't particularly unfriendly at all. It didn't contain any personal attacks or contentless bashing. Indeed, the comment did something valuable: identified a problem, and thoroughly described why it was a problem. If the only way some one can give usable problem analysis and criticism is by including suggested fixes, and delicately toning down the criticism, then far fewer people are going to be willing to expend enough effort to interact beyond meaningless cheerleaderism.

In fact, your suggestion of a different way to criticize comes across to me as incredibly condescending -- to both the commenter and the original author.


I agree that the original comment was not overtly _un_friendly. I also think that the reply represents a better way.

> If the only way some one can give usable problem analysis and criticism is by including suggested fixes,

I think we can all agree that the inclusion of suggested fixes does make feedback more helpful in general.

> and delicately toning down the criticism, then far fewer people are going to be willing to expend enough effort to interact

It does require a little additional effort to write kinder feedback, to take the moment to address the human being behind an Internet comment in a similar way to how we might address a person face to face. I'm as guilty as any of failing in that way.

But if criticism's aim is to improve, it will be more successful if it's more easily digested by its audience. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar and all that.

And really the reply above isn't that big a difference. In my view, it's a sign of intelligence, learning how to communicate effectively. If raising the bar only this high results in "far fewer people" interacting, maybe that's a good thing. I don't really need to hear from people unable to tame their own words when they have no time limit on typing them, and I'd rather belong to a community with fewer responses but a higher proportion of politeness and shared humanity than an array of comments expressing the kind of gruff emphasis on failure that bookends the original comment, "Your gif doesn't convey your idea __at all__," and "i'm confused as to why this project even exists."

Edit: BTW today I learned "stet" thanks to you.


Including good suggested fixes is certainly better than not. But no suggested fixes are better than bad suggested fixes. Finding problems is a different skill set than proposing solutions. Letting people with these complementary skill sets coöperate in improving something seems to be better than requiring one person have both. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

I'm not sure why emphasis on failure is a problem, when that failure is precisely what is being communicated. However, the comment certainly does look a lot more unfriendly in light of the responses. Perhaps I was too kind to "i'm confused as to why this project even exists", because I don't understand why I would ever want "code snippets" myself.


As a product person, I want to hear someone's proposed solutions even if their ideas are crap. The reason is that sometimes their proposed solutions help me understand the problem better, and sometimes there is an aspect of their proposed solution that makes it into the final solution too.


There was nothing unfriendly about the original phrasing.


Op communicated their emotional noise rather than being constructive (signal). The content is there in between the complaints.


Can anyone tell me why some comments, like this one, are darker than others? It would appear lighter with the default scheme.

Image showing what I mean: https://i.imgur.com/Beo2qve.png


Those are comments that have been predominately downvoted.

From the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

> Why don't I see down arrows?

> There are no down arrows on stories. They appear on comments after users reach a certain karma threshold, but never on direct replies.


Thank you! I wasn't aware there were even downvotes, so I didn't think of that as a possibility.


I believe it means the post was down-voted below zero.


I agreed with what you're saying, but there's a nicer way to say it. Please be a little more considerate.


[flagged]


Please read the guidelines and follow them when posting here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: you've broken them badly in the past as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21721337. We ban accounts that post like this, so please don't do it again.


Whatever. I'm NOT going to walk on eggshells with every comment I post in hopes I don't offend or hurt someone's feeling. I didn't personally attack anyone in my original comment, but for reason, someone takes it upon themselves to attack me personally and now I'm being ridiculed for it.


I'm certainly not ridiculing you! I'm trying to let you know what the site standards are so you can follow them and use HN as intended.


yes you are. you said nothing to the other two people who stated that my original comment was harsh (for whatever their reasons were), of which their comments added _nothing_ to the conversation, they were personal attacks against me. i simply just stated that they are being over sensitive and need to grow up (which, personally i think they are being and need to). i didn't use any profanity and say anything threatening, yet i get called out by you and not the other two. why? don't cite and hide behind guidelines if you're not going to apply them to everyone. you are ridiculing and personally attacking me and i'm not going to stand for it.


Of course, I will update README in more detail later. Now all my time is spent on PoC. MassCode is an application for organizing snippets such like as SnippetsLab, Quiver or Boostnote. What makes it different is that it uses Monaco editor as a code editor, it allows for autocompletion in the main frontend languages - HTML/CSS/JavaScript. And of course Emmet :)


awesome!


What? This is literally just Apple Notes for code snippets. What’s the confusion?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: