It's entirely possible HN is dying, HN won't last forever and dang has said he is very concerned about the direction he sees the commentary going. But it's also entirely possible that the quality waxes and wanes primarily due to internal factors and that political tensions, AI bots and slop submissions, etc are external factors straining HN that will eventually be resolved.

Either way, the "real HN" I find is still here if you look for it, and I have always seen people on here who complain about the quality of the site but when you go to their comment history (I have not looked at your comment history to be clear) you see they're constantly getting into arguments and architecting a miserable experience for themselves. One's experience on HN is largely what they make it.

At any rate I appreciate you considering.

Contributing to good discussions is the highest leverage way to promote the quality of the site. Spending time in poor discussions is what makes it feel like HN has gone to crap.

It's the same principle as someone in public when they're disfigured. You just became aware of something traumatic that happened to this person, and it is totally understandable to feel uncomfortable. But they are just existing in public. They have no obligation to present themselves in a way that avoids making you uncomfortable, and doing that everyday of their lives would be exhausting and wasteful.

In that example it is immediately obvious that it would be inappropriate to ask them to cover up. But it's the same principle, either way.

Nicotine is not harmless. It is a teratogen, it may exacerbate cancers you already have, it can harm brain development in young users, it can cause high blood pressure, etc. And as stated previously - it is not good to be addicted to something! That is a bad health outcome in and of itself!

I occasionally use synthetic nicotine products, I don't judge people for using them, but let's not misrepresent what this is. It is a drug. If you take a look at the risks and decide it's worth it more power to you. But don't tell people it's harmless, that is dangerous misinformation.

But the role of the smoke itself is overemphasized which leads to a false sense of security. Switching from cigarettes to dip does lead to a significant improvement in mortality. But the real step change is moving to oral nicotine pouches, gum, patches, etc.

I'd also point out the risk from campfires and from cigarettes is not at all comparable. They are several orders of magnitude apart. Even smoking marijuana isn't nearly as dangerous as smoking tobacco. (Smoking marijuana is not safe, that just goes to show how ridiculously dangerous cigarettes are.)

Nicotine products aren't safe; they are highly addictive and may exacerbate tumors that are already there. But they're far less addictive than tobacco products and they probably won't kill you.

Trump resurrected it in 2024 to claim that all job growth under Biden had gone to immigrants. It wasn't true then either.

If you want to get your work in front of people you will need to learn either to ignore these comments or to respond to criticism in a mature and professional manner. The people who will have the most valuable feedback for you will see this kind of behavior and decide engaging with you is a waste of time, and the only people who will stick around are bullies who enjoy upsetting you.

This is the kind of opinion you ought to keep to yourself, because it's inflammatory and uninteresting. There's no discussion to be had about your views on their competence. Downvote comments you think are bad without centering some other person's alleged failings in the conversation.