I could also have done something else with my free time than solve this problem and then let a bunch of nitpickers reproach me with nonsense. See e.g. this comment which was one of the first and stayed on top for a day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38633438
Nit picking is indeed annoying. In regards to efficiency however, I’m of the opinion that ignoring nit pick or venomous comments and instead positively engaging with other folks in the thread who have useful comments and feedback would be more effective.
Now some of the first comment chains people will see are hostile interactions between the author and commenters.
For someone considering adoption of the tool, feature requests, or pull requests, they are likely to consider how communicating with the author might be similarly hostile should disagreements arise.
It is unfortunate people often miss the forest for the trees in PRs and on hacker news with comments like the one to which you replied. It is easy to critique and difficult to create, so having people critique very small aspects of a project you created without acknowledging the actual project itself is irritating, but I still think either ignoring them or providing your rebuttal without malice will always be more effective for evangelizing your work.
In the comment you linked, that post received some similar feedback as well. I hope this did not come across as judgmental. It’s an area I also have worked on in my personal life and this was more so an attempt to share my thoughts about the negative ways this communication style has impacted me before.
Anyways, this project is a cool idea and I have respect for the time and effort you put into it. Wishing you well going forward.
I come from a culture where integrity and values play a role and where you talk things out and don't have to hide your views behind diplomatic formulas or pseudonyms. I also find it interesting how you assessed my vote. English is not my first language. I have tried to make my point clear in every respect to avoid the expectations going in a wrong direction due to misunderstandings. I kept my tone decent and did not personally attack or insult anyone.
But the reactions of my interlocutor made me realize that my efforts were likely in vain. In this respect, I agree with you that in some cases it is best not to respond. But this is HN and here is actually a good culture of discussion, supported by decent moderation, where arguments should not simply be ignored up front.
I agree that a dispute can deter potential collaborators; but on the other hand, if I just leave defamations about me or my work unanswered, this has the same negative effect. In the present case, I continued the argument to such an extent that my position was sufficiently elaborated and documented, and from then on I no longer responded to the further allegations.
Volunteering open source only works in a culture of mutual appreciation. It could be observed that in recent years appreciation has increasingly given way to an attitude of entitlement (which is a possible cause for nitpicking), especially among younger people. I think it is quite appropriate to make people aware of this fact and its consequences - and it may well take place at the top of an HN discussion.
