It's helpful to remember that HN is ultimately an entertainment site. We like to convince ourselves that our words matter and affect the world. And in some cases they do. But in most cases, people come here to distract themselves and to feel good. It's why they keep coming back.
If you want people to listen, you have to make it entertaining. If you want to tell a story, then tell a story! Spend a few hours putting all of your thoughts down on paper (not in a comment, but probably not on real paper, ha; put it on your own website). Go into juicy detail with your experiences. Make people feel like they were in your shoes. Put them in your mindset, your hopes and dreams, make them identify with your motivations. Make them feel how exciting it was when you were invited to Google, and how disappointing it felt to realize what it was really about. Don't tell them; show them. When you do this well, you get people on your side.
Everyone has a story to tell. But if you want people to listen, you have to really work for your audience and show them that you're doing it for them.
Turn it into something fun! I dug deeply into your comment history out of curiosity. The reason everyone is telling you to keep quiet is that when you write, you sound angry and hurt. But we have all experienced situations where someone has made us angry or hurt us. That's what power is: the ability to hurt you and not worry about consequences. It happens.
For various reasons, it's in my best interest to say nothing here. But I note you've been with HN since 2007, and have contributed 594 comments. That counts for something.
So, word of advice: when you come to an entertainment site, you have to be entertaining. But your HN profile, which is supposed to be about you, is about Google. You call them pigs, right there in your profile. Even if that were hypothetically true, what are people supposed to think when they read that? I search your comment history and see that 85 of your 594 comments are about Google: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
That's a ratio of 14.3%. Almost 15% of your sum total output on HN has been about Google, since 2007. In comparison, the #1 HN user by karma has mentioned Google 1,561 times out of 53,789 comments = 2.9% of the time. You're talking about google almost 5 times more frequently than other long-time members. That's why people are saying it's an obsession.
When people wrong you, and then you make your life about them, that's just them controlling you. Why let them win like that?
Now, the reason I said all of this, and why I'm sticking my neck out here to post this comment, is that I suspect -- just a hunch -- that you might have otherwise been inclined to bring up Google in the future. But I also suspect that if you keep doing this, and you don't change your methods, you're going to lose your HN privileges, and that no one will disagree with that decision. Poof. Gone.
It's Friday, man. It's the weekend. You in Chicago? If so, let me know! We can go out to a bar and I promise I'll really listen to everything you have to say about Google and about HN.
Just... have fun with life, you know? There's more to life than all of this. You're an inventor! Don't you still find joy in finding things to make? What happened to that creative spark?
I believe in you, and I believe you can still invent things and make positive contributions to the world. Don't let all this get you down. Just remember: HN is supposed to be fun. That's the real strength of the community.
If you want people to listen, you have to make it entertaining. If you want to tell a story, then tell a story! Spend a few hours putting all of your thoughts down on paper (not in a comment, but probably not on real paper, ha; put it on your own website). Go into juicy detail with your experiences. Make people feel like they were in your shoes. Put them in your mindset, your hopes and dreams, make them identify with your motivations. Make them feel how exciting it was when you were invited to Google, and how disappointing it felt to realize what it was really about. Don't tell them; show them. When you do this well, you get people on your side.
Everyone has a story to tell. But if you want people to listen, you have to really work for your audience and show them that you're doing it for them.
Turn it into something fun! I dug deeply into your comment history out of curiosity. The reason everyone is telling you to keep quiet is that when you write, you sound angry and hurt. But we have all experienced situations where someone has made us angry or hurt us. That's what power is: the ability to hurt you and not worry about consequences. It happens.
For various reasons, it's in my best interest to say nothing here. But I note you've been with HN since 2007, and have contributed 594 comments. That counts for something.
So, word of advice: when you come to an entertainment site, you have to be entertaining. But your HN profile, which is supposed to be about you, is about Google. You call them pigs, right there in your profile. Even if that were hypothetically true, what are people supposed to think when they read that? I search your comment history and see that 85 of your 594 comments are about Google: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
That's a ratio of 14.3%. Almost 15% of your sum total output on HN has been about Google, since 2007. In comparison, the #1 HN user by karma has mentioned Google 1,561 times out of 53,789 comments = 2.9% of the time. You're talking about google almost 5 times more frequently than other long-time members. That's why people are saying it's an obsession.
When people wrong you, and then you make your life about them, that's just them controlling you. Why let them win like that?
Now, the reason I said all of this, and why I'm sticking my neck out here to post this comment, is that I suspect -- just a hunch -- that you might have otherwise been inclined to bring up Google in the future. But I also suspect that if you keep doing this, and you don't change your methods, you're going to lose your HN privileges, and that no one will disagree with that decision. Poof. Gone.
It's Friday, man. It's the weekend. You in Chicago? If so, let me know! We can go out to a bar and I promise I'll really listen to everything you have to say about Google and about HN.
Just... have fun with life, you know? There's more to life than all of this. You're an inventor! Don't you still find joy in finding things to make? What happened to that creative spark?
I believe in you, and I believe you can still invent things and make positive contributions to the world. Don't let all this get you down. Just remember: HN is supposed to be fun. That's the real strength of the community.
Best of luck!