HN needs a vaccination against meanness the way European politics needed one against dictatorships: Life is pretty miserable without it.
I'll have to disagree with your characterization of HN. The site isn't here to serve you. It's much more interesting than that. You're a member of a community. I remember vividly what the site was like in the very early days. "Very cool!" type comments were there, alongside thoughtful comments about the relative merits of quicksort.
Pg said that empty-but-pleasant comments are fine, for what it's worth. I didn't mean to say that everyone should upvote them, but it's mistaken for them to be downvoted, or to call them out as examples of what not to write.
Comments like "Thanks for making this" are morale boosters. Keeping them (or at least not discouraging them) might encourage people to show more stuff they've made.
I'll have to disagree with your characterization of HN. The site isn't here to serve you. It's much more interesting than that. You're a member of a community. I remember vividly what the site was like in the very early days. "Very cool!" type comments were there, alongside thoughtful comments about the relative merits of quicksort.
Pg said that empty-but-pleasant comments are fine, for what it's worth. I didn't mean to say that everyone should upvote them, but it's mistaken for them to be downvoted, or to call them out as examples of what not to write.
Comments like "Thanks for making this" are morale boosters. Keeping them (or at least not discouraging them) might encourage people to show more stuff they've made.