I remember a time when being a nerd was really unfashionable. People would laugh at us. The word "geek" actually comes from circus parlance, it means someone who does disgusting things like bite the heads off of chickens for the entertainment of the crowd. Being called a "geek" meant being socially repulsive.
The usual dynamic was that somebody who wanted to establish themselves as an alpha would pick on a defenseless target--like a nerd--and engage in some old-fashioned shaming, sometimes with physical bullying thrown in for good measure.
Then the rest of the group would join in like the good little toadies that they were, each eager to prove that they're "in" to ensure that they aren't chosen as the next target.
Our luck changed when the Information Age accelerated. Our skills were in demand and we were able to build things that changed people's lives for the better. Some of us got stinking rich and helped others get filthy stinking rich. Being a nerd no longer meant being socially ostracized. Other people didn't point at us and laugh.
So what do we do with our new-found freedom from being the butt of everybody's jokes?
Well, it seems that sometimes we look within our own circle and point fingers at someone and laugh at them, joining in together in the fun of picking a victim and socially ostracizing them.
At times like this I feel that we haven't really changed the game, we've just moved the lines around a little and shuffled the jerseys.
It feels like we're laughing and shaming them right here in our cozy little tree fort. Or do I misread things and this is all really constructive, healthy analysis designed to help YC Startups do the right thing once they've raised M$40+?
UPDATE: You added a point about skeptism after I replied. Well, simple skepticism would lead to one or two stories. They raised some money, their app doesn't work, their business plan is flawed. Ok, move along, nothing more to see here. The attention they're getting here on HN and the emotional investment people are pouring into this "skeptism" goes above and beyond what one would expect from dispassionate observation.
The tone and disproportionate representation suggests this is not just skepticism, but rather it's a social feeding frenzy. See the comment elsewhere about making fun of Colour for a week or two until it has jumped the shark: I think that author nailed it exactly, we are not expressing skepticism, we did that when it was first mentioned. We are now beating a dead horse for purely social reasons.
First: updated my post to reflect the edit. Sorry for that--didn't think you'd see my response so quickly.
Second, it takes a certain kind of person to repeatedly slam a company that has no effect on their lives. If some hypothetical HN reader is criticizing Color constantly, then no amount of social grace will help them.
The simple truth is that when something like this was going on over Cuil, I looked "raganwald" up in Cuil, thought the result was very funny, and posted it on HN. So... Perhaps I wrote that comment with myself in mind, rather than an appeal to other people to change what they are doing.
(The mind is a funny thing. It is the most powerful computing device we have encountered so far, yet it has a ridiculously primitive and broken tool chain with a debugger that hides or even lies about what's actually going on.)
It's kindof sad seeing this stuff. A lot of geeks do this beyond the scope of technology too. Get together with some geeks sometime and watch how they talk about the people around them. Everybody is stupid or a bro or a hipster. It's awful. You'd think that a group who spent out childhoods being made fun of would be nicer.
I remember a time when being a nerd was really unfashionable. People would laugh at us. The word "geek" actually comes from circus parlance, it means someone who does disgusting things like bite the heads off of chickens for the entertainment of the crowd. Being called a "geek" meant being socially repulsive.
The usual dynamic was that somebody who wanted to establish themselves as an alpha would pick on a defenseless target--like a nerd--and engage in some old-fashioned shaming, sometimes with physical bullying thrown in for good measure.
Then the rest of the group would join in like the good little toadies that they were, each eager to prove that they're "in" to ensure that they aren't chosen as the next target.
Our luck changed when the Information Age accelerated. Our skills were in demand and we were able to build things that changed people's lives for the better. Some of us got stinking rich and helped others get filthy stinking rich. Being a nerd no longer meant being socially ostracized. Other people didn't point at us and laugh.
So what do we do with our new-found freedom from being the butt of everybody's jokes?
Well, it seems that sometimes we look within our own circle and point fingers at someone and laugh at them, joining in together in the fun of picking a victim and socially ostracizing them.
At times like this I feel that we haven't really changed the game, we've just moved the lines around a little and shuffled the jerseys.