I like that SE has taken a stance on this, and I like their stance. The programming community, especially as it pertains to blogging, news, etc, has been infiltrated by navel-gazing unproductive carebears that insist that you have to be nice to get things done.
This isn't an MBA program, and HN/SE/reddit/etc are not networking arenas. They're discussion boards.
And yet a major part of his point was that "discussion" is not enough. If someone presents facts in a way that causes the person they are responding to, to almost inevitably ignore everything they've said, then they've wasted their time (aside from generating fleeting feelings of smug superiority).
It's funny how easy it is to lose sight of that (I've certainly done it before). A discussion is only a discussion when information flows between two parties, not when it is is broadcast into the void.
If you say something, and you're wrong, and I correct you, and you disregard what I've said because I was abrasive, you're still ignorant. I've lost nothing but hot air (or a few keystrokes).
I can't speak for everyone but it seems to me one does gain something. If you didn't, why bother at all? Whatever you gain may be small and it probably doesn't have any monetary value but there should be some extrinsic motivation to answer. There are plenty of alternative uses of your time.
Thus, my greater point is: when you have decided to answer, you should give the best answer you can reasonably give in the time you want to use. It wont hurt you and will improve the world a little bit.
Being nice doesn't cost one anything, though. So why not do it? Being rude, obnoxious, overly pedantic, etc. just make one a dick. Since it takes the same amount of effort to show a little consideration and common courtesy, as it does to be a dick, why would anybody prefer the latter?
And it's not like being "nice" precludes one from being direct, honest, or straightforward. I'm really not seeing the advantage of failing to show at least a baseline level of common courtesy and kindness to people, even if it is just a discussion board.
And it's not like being "nice" precludes one from being direct, honest, or straightforward.
It sort of depends on how you view the dick<->nice spectrum. I see 'nice' as friendlier than 'baseline common courtesy'. And if that type of nice is what you are trying to achieve, it's going to take a few extra words here and there.
I haven't heard that sort of insult since I disconnected from the online gaming community. It's not appropriate in most any context, including this one.
And discussion is made better removing social lubrication when intermixed with context? It's not like you see the guys having smalltalk here, we're talking about things like removing thank yous, etc.
Just because you're happy with terse robotic communication doesn't mean you should make everyone talk robotically, especially when you're changing their payment for an answer (which was likely upvotes, selected answers and sincere appreciation) for what was perhaps a protracted effort on the part of the answerer.
It's rudeness equivalent of yelling "IRRELEVANT" over people small-talking at a technical talk.
This isn't an MBA program, and HN/SE/reddit/etc are not networking arenas. They're discussion boards.